Falling Into Place
by Ang3l S0ng
Summary: Book 2 of the Falling Apart series! Asa is now an official member of the Straw Hat pirates and is one step closer to her dream. However, more drama then ever before awaits her on the legendary Island in the Sky. Can she deal with freaky gods, new flirtatious friends and sort out her own feelings for a certain rubber boy? The Darkness is closing in, can Asa stop it? Find out here!
1. The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!

**Ang3l: That didn't take too long did it?**

**Asa: I thought you were taking a break?**

**Ang3l: I did! But then I really missed writing and the one-shots weren't cutting it for me. So! Here is the first chapter of Falling Into Place! I cannot believe how many people really liked the first one! I never expected to have a sequel, I didn't think this would get very far. I am so happy I could cry right now. You guys are so amazing. *Starts balling her eyes out***

**Asa: Alrighty then! Without further blabbering... or blubbering, here is Falling Into Place.**

**Falling Into Place**

**(Book Two in the Falling Apart Series)**

**Chapter 1**

**The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!**

It was a peaceful day.

The kind of day that made you want to just lay around in the sun and do nothing. Nami and I couldn't let a day like this go to waste so we broke out the sunscreen and deck chairs. She insisted that I change into a bikini, said something about showing maximum amount of skin to avoid tan lines. I knew the girl well enough not to argue.

So there we sat, lounging on deck with a cool drink in our hands, courtesy of none other than Sanji.

Relaxing here gave me time to think about everything that had happened since Alabasta. We had been on quite a few adventures since then, some I knew from the anime but some were totally a surprise for me. It was nice though. It got a bit boring knowing what to expect.

Shortly after Alabasta, I had told everyone all about what happened after I left them in Drum. I told them about my powers and Alexandra and the weird old lady and the Cradle. I also told them about the Children and the book as well.

I knew I could trust them so I didn't withhold any information.

Well besides the fact that I'm from another world, in which they're nothing but a TV show.

Sighing, I looked over to Luffy who was playing cards with Ussop and Chopper.

Despite all that was happening with me, that boy was the biggest mystery of all. I wasn't dumb. I knew very well that I had feelings for him. I didn't have a problem liking him either. He was cute, funny, adorable, kind, innocent, protective and so much more. _No, I had NO problem liking him. _It was just that Luffy didn't seem like the type for relationships. He really didn't have a romantic bone in his body, or at least he didn't show it.

Also… I was scared. I didn't want to get into a serious relationship again. _Not after what happened last time. _I don't think I could recover from something like that twice.

I shook my head and pushed away the sad thoughts before turning my attention back on the gorgeous day.

_It couldn't be any more tranquil. _

There was a small _plop _and I felt the contents in my glass splash over my thighs. I jumped at the unexpected coldness. Nami sat up and looked over at me in wonder. Slowly, as if something would jump out and bite me, I reached into my cup. My hand wrapped around a large chunk of… something. Furrowing my brow in confusion I pulled it out.

It was a piece of wood? "What the heck?" I asked, looking around for where this could've possibly come from.

The crew stopped what they were doing, scattered around the deck, and looked up. More pieces of wood fell down from the sky and clunked on the deck. I sighed. _I knew it was too good to last. _

But really, what did I expect? This is the Straw Hat Pirates we're talking about.

Sanji put his hand out, catching some of the splintered wood.

Zoro paused in his training. "Rain?" he asked looking at the bits strangely.

"This… ain't rain."

Suddenly a massive piece of what looked like a mast hit the water beside the Merry. I was up at the railing in a second, watching as larger and larger pieces continued to fall before suddenly an entire galleon followed after. Everyone screamed in shock when the colossal wave created by the impact slammed into our ship.

I lost my footing and slid across the deck as wave after wave tossed us around effortlessly. _It's a good thing I don't get sea sick. _I grabbed onto the mast as I rolled by, lying on my stomach with my arms wrapped tightly around it. Nami was crouched on the other side and Luffy used his Devil Fruit to twist himself around it a little higher up.

Robin, Zoro and Sanji had grabbed onto the railings but Ussop and Chopper weren't so lucky and ended up getting thrown back and forth.

"What!? What is this!?" Nami screamed.

I laughed crazily. "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"

"A dream!" Ussop declared. "Yeah, yeah, this must be a dream!"

"A dream!? Thank-" Chopper started but stopped when he smashed against the opposite railing.

Large pieces of wood were still falling, each one threatening to skewer us.

Nami turned to Zoro, who was closest to the galley. "Turn the helm! The helm!"

"That won't work in these waves!" he shot back.

"Luffy! We have to protect the ship! It's in bad enough shape as it is!" Sanji yelled.

The captain nodded but was distracted when he looked over at the sniper. "Ussop?"

"To ease one's fears, become calm and close your eyes… and then slowly lift your eyelids…See? A nice, quiet-" Ussop let out a shrill scream and leapt from his meditating position. "A SKELETON!"

Sure enough a beat up skeleton hit the deck, sliding around and scaring the crap out of Nami.

"It's the end of the world as we know it! It's the end of the world as we know it! It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine~!" I sung happily. _Darn, now I want to watch Chicken Little._

It took longer than expected for everything to calm down again. The Going Merry was surrounded by debris and I couldn't help but wonder how we didn't get hit with anything major.

"Why'd a ship fall out of the sky!?"

"It's a mystery."

"There's nothing in the damn sky!"

Nami let out a puzzled gasp. I bit my lip trying to stop the shit eating grin that wanted to spread across my face. _This is my favourite arc! I mean seriously, an island in the sky!? What's more awesome then that!?_

"What's wrong, Nami-san?" Sanji asked.

"Something's wrong…" she mused, looking down at the navigational tool on her wrist. "The Log Pose it's broken. It's pointing up and it won't move!"

Ussop glanced over at me and sweat-dropped. "What's your problem?" He asked, referring to the fact that I looked like I was about to implode or something. I was positively shaking with excitement.

"Nothing!" I squeaked. As much as I wanted to scream about how awesome Skypiea was going to be I was under strict captain's orders not to speak about the future unless ordered by himself only. Well… okay maybe it was more like '_You gotta promise not to tell us what's gonna happen next! It'll ruin the fun!' _Who was I to say no to the adorableness that is Luffy?

Ussop edged away from me, a little more than unnerved.

"An island with a stronger magnetic field is causing the needle to point towards a new log." Nami looked up at Robin in surprise. "And since the needle is pointing up… The Log seems to have been taken by Sky Island."

"SKY ISLAND!?" Everyone exclaimed.

"Yay!" I squealed. I couldn't wait to see Luffy beat the shit out of the so called 'God'.

Nami was still rather confused. "What's that?"

"Is it a floating island!?" Luffy asked.

"Th-Th-That ship and those s-skeletons fell from there!?"

Zoro folded his arms. "But… there's nothing in the sky that looks like an island."

Robin hummed. "I wouldn't say that. To be more precise, what's floating up there is a sea."

Luffy, Chopper and Ussop were sparkling with amazement. Sanji, Nami and Zoro looked a little more skeptical. "This gets harder and harder to take in." Sanji said taking a drag of his cancer stick.

Luffy cheered. "So there's an ocean in the sky with an island on it! Yosh, let's go!"

"Okay, men! Steer the helm up!" Ussop shouted.

"HARD TURN SKYWARD!"

Getting annoyed with his screaming, Robin conjured up two arms and covered Luffy's mouth.

Finally deciding I didn't really like being left out of this conversation I chipped in "We can't point the helm up anyway, Captain. If we could then getting up there would be so much easier."

Nami gave me a worried side glance. "Easier than what?"

I didn't answer and looked over to Robin when she said "Actually, to tell the truth, I've never seen Sky Island and I don't know much about it."

"Of course not!" Nami reasoned. "It's all impossible! Islands and seas floating in the sky. The Log Pose is broken, that's all."

"No, Miss Navigator. What you should think of now is not how to fix a broken Log Pose, but how you are going to get to the sky. No matter what bizarre circumstances you ship should encounter, and by the look on Miss Asa's face I'd assume there will be a few," I grinned at that. "you must not doubt the Log Pose." Robin finished.

I nodded. "She's right. On this sea, if there is something to doubt, it's your own common sense. Normal logic doesn't really apply here."

Nami didn't say anything and looked down at the Log Pose.

"Luffy! Jump!" Ussop ordered, probably too scared to go first. The three of us had quickly gotten bored waiting for Robin to piece together one of the skeletons so we decided to go and explore the parts of the galleon that were still above water, which given the size, was a good portion.

Luffy jumped from one of the split pieces of the ship to another without hesitation. When he landed safely in what looked like part of the front half of the ship he turned to us, waving us over. I grinned and took a running start, jumping the gap. Luffy caught me around the waist and we spun a bit from the momentum. Blushing as he set me down, I gave him a smile. "Thanks!"

Luffy gave his signature laugh. "Anytime!" I couldn't help but notice that his cheeks looked a little pink. _I hope he's not getting sick or something…_

I turned to look at Ussop. He looked like he was trying to gain some courage. When he was ready he ran and jumped yelling "Catch me!" as he flew over the gap. Luffy and I shared a glance before we both took a step backwards wincing when the sniper face planted into the ground.

Luffy sniggered and adjusted his hat. "Sorry Ussop, got distracted."

We turned and ran off into separate parts of the ship, leaving Ussop to peel himself off the wood and grumble about insensitive friends. I opened up one of the still intact doors and look around the small room. It was pretty much empty besides what looked like the remains of a bed frame and a trunk in the corner. I looked at the trunk curiously and upon further inspection I found it to be open. _The lock must have rusted away. _

I opened the lid, coughing when dust and mold puffed into the air. I was a bit disappointed but not really surprised to see that there wasn't anything but more dust in it. Luffy's call from a few rooms over caught my attention. _He must have found something! _I jumped up and ran in the direction the call came from. It didn't take long for me to find Luffy and when I walked into the room I was almost suffocated by a large piece of paper that was shoved in my face.

I grabbed Luffy's wrists and pushed them away from me so I could get a better look at what he was holding. "Look, Asa! It exists! The Sky Island!" I couldn't stop the large smile on my face or the excitement welling up inside me. The paper that my captain held was a map of an island and at the top of the page was 'Skypiea' written in fancy scroll.

"This is awesome!" I jumped up and down on the spot. "I can't wait! Can you imagine!? An island in the sky!"

Luffy laughed, sharing my excitement. Calming down a little I looked around. "So is this the captain's room?" I asked taking in the furniture and décor. It looked a lot more expensive and nice then what the other room I was in had, though it was still hard to tell with the shape everything was in.

"I guess." Luffy said looking around as well.

I walked over to a large desk that was up against one of the walls.

Luffy watched over my shoulder as I opened one of the drawers. Inside, I was surprised to find a red shell. "An impact dial!?" I exclaimed, instantly recognizing it. Luffy picked it up before I could and he turned it over in his hands.

"What's an impact dial?" he asked finding nothing really outstanding about the shell.

Taking it from him I said "I'll show you back on the ship. It's probably not a good idea to use it here. Speaking of which, we should probably get back and show the others what you found."

Luffy agreed and we turned around to go and find Ussop. Just as we stepped out a cold, wet feeling slipped between my toes and around my feet. I looked down. _Water?_

_Oh…_

_Oh no._

"Uh, Luffy…" I started. There was no need to say anymore when Ussop came splashing through the quickly raising water.

"It's sinking!" He screamed in panic.

We bolted through the wreckage, dragging a weakened rubber boy behind us. We just made it out in time and as we were being pulled up on deck by Zoro and Sanji the last of the galleon sunk bellow the waves.

The three of us were breathing heavily from the swim. Ussop and I more so than Luffy. _Good thing I'm still wearing a bathing suit. _

"Oi, guys!" Luffy called excitedly. "I did it! I found something great! Look at this!" He pulled out the map and unrolled it for the others to see. They all look on in disbelief.

"A map of Sky Island!?"

Nami took the map and looked it over. "Skypiea? So there really is an island in the sky?"

"YAHOO~!" Ussop, Luffy, Chopper and I cheered. We danced around deck happily. "We did it! Sky island does exist! A dream island! We're going to a dream island! Dream island!" We chanted.

"You're celebrating too early. It's still only a possibility. The world is full of fake maps."

An air of depression overcame us at Nami's words. _Wow. Way to ruin the mood. _She quickly stuttered out an apology at seeing our downed expressions.

After a short fight with Luffy, Nami turned to the whole crew. "We can't go on like this. What we need now is exactly what Robin said, information. If that giant ship really was in the sky, then there must be a way for our ship to get there too. We need to get onto that ship and pull out any documents or records left."

"But the ship's completely sunk now." Ussop reasoned. "Can't we just ask Asa? I mean you did say you knew almost everything about the Grand Line." He said turning to me.

I sweat-dropped. "I don't ever remember saying that. I did say I knew a lot though."

"So you'll tell us?"

"Nope!"

Ussop gawked at me. "W-Why not!?"

"Where's the fun in that? Besides, I want to go and climb around on that ship more!" I explained.

Luffy suddenly jumped up. "Hey! Asa, you said you'd show me what that shell thing was!" My captain reminded me.

I brightened and looked at the dial in my hand that I miraculously hadn't dropped. "Oh yeah!" I moved across the deck and faced the others, holding the impact dial in the palm of my hand, my arm outstretched and supported by the other. "Yosh, Luffy! Sanji! Zoro! Attack me!"

They looked at me in shock. "What?"

"Why?"

"I could never attack a precious lady!"

I frowned and decided to reword that sentence. "Okay, I meant attack the shell." I ordered pointing to the item.

Nami stepped up. "Are you crazy? They will still hurt you!"

I laughed. "Trust me! I wouldn't put myself in harms way on purpose!"

Nami and Ussop looked at me with half lidded eyes. "What about that time you blew yourself up?"

"Oi Nami, you have to be more specific, she's done that a lot."

"Just give it all you got!"

The monster trio shared a look before shrugging. Luffy ran forwards and shot a gum gum pistol, hitting dead center on the dial. The impact was instantly absorbed leaving the shell undamaged and preventing me from feeling anything from the hit. Luffy frowned in confusion as did the others. They had probably expected it to shatter and my arm to break or something.

"O-Oi! What kind of punch was that, Shitty Captain?" Sanji asked, he was happy that I seemed alright though.

"But I wasn't holding back!" Luffy defended. He took a different stance and let loose on the shell, punching so fast I thought he would start using Gatling gun. Again, the same result. I didn't move an inch.

Sanji stepped up and put his hand on his captain's shoulder. "Maybe you're just losing your touch." The cook said, eliciting a pout from the rubber boy. Regardless, Luffy stepped out of the way to give the other man a try.

Sanji attacked, kicking the shell with all his might but again, nothing happened. "What the hell?" He asked in frustration. The rest of the crew was beyond confused, each of them thinking that the shell was invincible.

Zoro laughed and pushed Sanji out of the way. "What? You can't even beat a shell? Watch and learn ero-cook." He unsheathed his swords.

"Tch, like you can do any better marimo."

Zoro glared at the shell and lunged forward. He swung his swords in a controlled chaotic kind of way but nothing worked. Finally after what seemed like forever he gave up.

Nami couldn't take it anymore. "Okay, what the heck is wrong with that thing!?"

Laughing, I lowered my hand. "Nothing's wrong with it! This is an impact dial. You can attack it all you want but it'll just absorb the impact so no damage is done." I explained.

They looked at the shell with a new fascination. "Did you find that on the ship?" Zoro asked.

I nodded and looked around the deck. "But that's not all it does." Spotting a barrel of who knows what I said to the others "It doesn't just absorb impacts but it also stores them. Watch."

I went up to the barrel about to push the shell against it before I paused. _What am I doing? Wasn't this supposed to hurt? _I thought about it a little more. _Meh, oh well!_

I braced myself and jammed the dial against the barrel. The moment the apex was pushed down the barrel was completely obliterated. My arm jolted, the muscles shook with the sudden kick back and my nerves felt like they were ripped apart. I dropped the now smoking dial and held my arm.

The Straw Hat's had their jaws on the deck, staring at where the barrel used to be. Even Robin was wide eyed in shock. "WHAT!?"

I let my arm hang limply by my side. "It can also release the impacts that were stored in it to be used as an attack."

Robin hummed as Luffy and Ussop fought over who got to try it next. "That would be quite useful in a fight."

I winced when my arm pulsed and the muscles burned. "Yeah, but it does a lot of damage to the user." I ground out rubbing my poor limb.

Ussop blinked, taking in what I said. He shoved the dial into Luffy's hands and backed away from it quickly.

Chopper ran over to me, going into doctor mode. After a quick inspection of my arm he ushered me in to the infirmary.

Sadly, I was in there for longer than expected and when I came back out, with my arm in a sling, Luffy, Zoro and Sanji were gone. I pouted knowing they went to salvage the ship. _Darn! I wanted to go too!_

Nami and Ussop smiled at me, asking if I was okay after checking on the tubes that were supplying the trio with air and allowing them to communicate.

"Perfectly fine." I assured them.

"You really got to stop hurting yourself."

I just shrugged. "It's an occupational hazard."

Suddenly a faint sound reached my ears. I strained to hear what it was. It sounded sort of like…

"Salvage~! Sal~va~ge! Salvage~! Sal~va~ge~!" Voices sung in the distance, along with the shrill squeak of a whistle.

My eyes widened in horror.

_Please God. Please don't let it be who I think it is!_

**Ang3l: First chapter and there's already Luffy x Asa! **

**Asa: *Coughs awkwardly* Um, well... okay, so Ang3l has to go back to school tomorrow so updates might slow down again but she won't wait too long between chapters. **

**Ang3l: I really hope you will enjoy this book. Everyone seems to have pretty high expectations and I just hope its as good as you guys want it to be...**

**Asa: Thanks for sticking with us this long, if you have any question's then you know the drill!**

**And... We're out!**


	2. Blackbeard

**Ang3l: HI! Sorry this took so long but I did warn people updates would be slowing down... still I wish I had more free time for writing. I really wouldn't say that this is one of my best chapters but regardless I hope you semi-enjoy it at least. **

**Asa: Ang3l doesn't own anything but her own ideas!**

**Chapter 2**

**Blackbeard**

I leaned against the railing of the deck, having changed into a pair of jean shorts that came about mid –thigh on me and a black T-shirt that had a tie in the front and revealed my stomach. My arm was finally out of that stupid sling and I could move it freely with almost no pain.

I sighed, thinking about the crazy day we had had so far. After the ape man, Masira, got his salvaging crew to attempt to bring the galleon up from the bottom of the sea, it was ironically eaten by a massive turtle. Which I got a picture of. Somehow, Luffy, Sanji and Zoro managed to escape and the turtle (and us) were scared away by enormous warrior shadows. Which I also got a picture of. I wasn't really too scared of the shadow due to the fact I knew what they really were. It was quite amusing.

"Are we there yet, Ussop?" Luffy whined from his place, lounging on the figure head.

Ussop looked at the horizon through binoculars. "Nope, I still don't see any land." He informed.

"Jaya Island's not that far, is it?" Zoro asked.

"Well, the weather seems to have stabilized. We've probably crossed into the island's climate zone already." Nami informed.

Luffy smiled and hummed. "Then Jaya must be a Spring Island." He said, observing the nice weather.

Chopper looked up at the clear sky, agreeing. He took notice of some seagulls flying overhead.

I bolted upright when one by one said seagulls hit the deck, twitching as the last of their life quickly faded away. Chopper screamed in panic. "THEY'VE BEEN SHOT!"

Luffy laughed and suggested that we have grilled bird. _He seriously has a one track mind. _

Biting my lip I looked in the direction that Jaya would be. An ominous feeling came over me causing me to shudder.

_Blackbeard…_

In all my excitement I had forgotten about him. We would meet him on Jaya. _What am I going to do? Should I try and stop him? Get Luffy to fight him? _

Then I remembered what Alex had said about the war. It had to happen. And this is where it starts. I couldn't let the Straw Hat's think anything was wrong when we got to Jaya. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. After failing terribly I settled for listening to the others try to figure out how the birds could have been shot from an island we couldn't even see yet.

We reached the island about a half an hour later. Luffy was sitting on his special seat, over-looking the approaching town. "This place looks friendly!"

Ussop and Chopper seemed just as excited. "Is it just me, or does it look like a resort!?"

"Hurry, Merry!" Luffy exclaimed patting the figurehead fondly. My eyes softened. _There's another thing that I have to worry about too… but I can't stop Merry's death. That's another event that's set in stone. _I groaned, seriously considering making a list of all the stuff I have to remember.

I was pulled from my thoughts when Ussop pointed out "Is it just me, or do all the ships in the harbor resemble pirate ships?"

Nami ran over and slapped the sniper in the arm, not wanting her 'relaxing resort' image to be ruined. "Oh, silly Ussop! Why would loads of pirate ships be anchored right there in the harbor?"

"AH! Y-You're right!"

A shout suddenly echoed from the town. "HELP ME! I'M GONNA DIE!"

Ussop, Nami and Chopper all started crying. I laughed, trying to overcome my fretfulness. "Maybe I should have mentioned that it was a pirate hot spot."

The three of them turned their teary eyes to me, asking me why I hated them so much. Backing away a bit, I sweat-dropped. _Creepy…_

We docked the ship. Luffy and Zoro wasted no time in jumping onto the dock and heading into town. I hesitated for only a second before running to catch up with them. Luffy turned around and smiled at me. I gave him a light smile back and turned to inspect the town, rubbing my arm nervously. Luffy seemed to notice this and frowned. Before he could ask however, Zoro spoke up. "There's a lot of strange people here. Seems like a fun town."

"Wait! Luffy, Asa, Zoro!" Nami called behind us. When she caught up we ventured into the town, occasionally dodging the many street fights that were going on around us. "Alright Luffy, repeat after me. 'Whilst in this town, I promise not to fight!'"

Luffy ducked under a rogue punch. "Whilst in this town I promise to get away-" Nami pinched his cheek, causing me to laugh.

"I promise not to fight!" She corrected.

"I promise not to fight."

The navigator nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Now is that the truth, you three?"

I bent backwards to avoid getting my head cut off by a flying sword. "Why are you including me?" I asked.

Nami looked at me with half lidded eyes. "You're just as bad as these two. You know if we start trouble here, we'll get kicked out of town."

I stepped around a man getting stabbed brutally. "Yeah… I don't think that'll be a problem Nami." I gagged at the scene.

Looking down, I tried to get some blood off my shoe. _What the heck is wrong with this place? _I grunted when I ran into Luffy's back, not noticing the others had stopped. I was about to apologize until I noticed what it was they were looking at. An old guy with a weird hat and a fur coat was lying on the ground beside a weak looking horse. "Who the heck is that?"

"Look. He fell off."

"Yeah. Fell straight off."

The man grunted and coughed.

"Look. He's in pain."

"Yeah, in pain."

The man raised his hand up and asked for help. I couldn't help but flinch. _He's a Blackbeard pirate._ Nami noticed my behavior and put her hand on my shoulder. "Oi, Asa. Are you alright? You've been jumpy since this morning." Her question caught the attention of Luffy and Zoro who had just thrown the guy back onto his horse.

I sighed. It was getting a bit annoying having everyone look at me like that all the time. I needed to get better at hiding my feelings. "I'm okay." I tried to reassure them. They didn't look convinced.

"Is something going to happen?"

Nami bashed Luffy on the head and hissed at him. "Shut up idiot! Do you want everyone to know that Asa can see the future!?"

Luffy and Nami started arguing but I wasn't paying attention to them. The blackbeard pirate was looking at me in a way that made me shiver. Had he heard what they said? Did he know? Just as fast as it had appeared, the man went back to his sick, weak façade. Everyone turned to him when he spoke up. "Forgive me for being such a bother. I'd like to repay you with this." He held out a basket of apples.

"Ooh! Apples! Thanks!" Luffy said reaching for one. I jumped forward and grabbed his hand.

"I wouldn't do that. They're explosive."

Luffy pulled his hand back quickly and glared at the man. "That's a dirty trick." He pouted. "Messing with food like that…"

Again, that look. Except this time, he was smiling. That's when I realized what I had done. I'd just proven I could see the future. No one would have been able to tell those weren't real apples.

Quickly I ushered everyone on to keep walking. When the man was out of view, I let myself relax a bit. "Jeez, what was with that guy." Nami grumbled.

"Ah, don't be mad Nami."

"Do you realize you almost got killed for no reason? If Asa hadn't said anything…" Nami turned to me. "Speaking of which. What is up with you today?"

I shook my head, happy she wasn't giving me a look of worry this time. "It's nothing. I'll just be happy to get off this damn island and get into the sky."

Nami sighed and shook her head.

It didn't take long for us to find a pub and we all went in to order something. I sat down at a random spot, to busy thinking about Blackbeard to really notice anything. Nami was complaining again and was having a conversation with the bar tender. I glanced away from the dented wood of the counter when pies were placed on either side of me. I looked to my left, to see my captain happily eating one of the pies.

Every muscle in my body tensed. Slowly I turned to look at the man sitting on my right. Anger and hatred filled me as I laid my eyes on none other than Blackbeard. He was every ounce as disgusting as the anime portrayed. The scent of blood and sweat was strong enough to make me gag. I inched a tad bit closer to Luffy, worried that I would try and kill the man here and now.

"HEY, OLD MAN!"

The shouts from both sides of me caused me to jump violently. The bar tender turned towards Luffy and Blackbeard.

"This cherry pie is so TASTY I could die!"

"This cherry pie is so NASTY I could die!"

They spoke at the same time. They glared over me and at each other. I couldn't help but feel happy that Luffy hated the guy from the first meeting. If they had been friends then it would have made Teach killing Ace all the more difficult for Luffy to deal with. _He had it hard enough as it was. _

After a similar reaction with the drinks, their glares intensified.

Teach looked down at Luffy, I tried my best to sink down in my seat. Sadly barstools aren't made for that so I was forced to stay where I was. "Jerk, you got something wrong with your tongue?"

"You got something wrong with your head?" Luffy returned.

The bartender looked between the two. "Well, I'm not the cook so I really don't care what you say."

Luffy pushed his pie out of the way and leaned on the counter. "Hey, Ossan! I want 50 pieces of meat to go."

Teach decided to challenge Luffy. "Old man, I want 51 of those cherry pies to go."

"Actually, I meant 52 pieces!"

"Wait, I wanted 53 pies."

"No, 54 cuts of meat!"

"55 pies."

"60 cuts of meat!"

"70 pies!"

"80!"

"100!"

Before I knew it I was jammed between two very pissed off guys. Teach and Luffy had their fists raised, poised to fight. What stopped them was my pained gasp. Luffy stepped back and looked down at me, scared that he had hurt me somehow. He was, however, stunned to see my arm, which was currently in contact with Blackbeard, _burning. _Teach noticed this too and winced when his own arm began burning as well.

Luffy quickly pulled me away from him, out of my seat and tucked into his chest protectively. I would have blushed if the pain in my arm wasn't so intense. Zoro had also stood and grabbed the hilt of his sword. Luffy glared at Teach, pure hatred shinning in his eyes. "What the hell did you do!?"

Blackbeard looked genuinely confused. "I didn't do anything." He rubbed his arm. His shirt sleeve had a charred hole through it and his (nasty) skin was a bright red.

I was in worse shape, for whatever reason, my upper arm was blistering and charred black, the skin lightly smoking. The rest of the world seemed to fade away, the noise from the others in the pub was replaced by the roaring of fire. The feel of Luffy's arms around me was replaced for burning heat. Everything was so bright. The air was thick with smoke making it near impossible to breath. Family photos on the walls were devoured by the flames as if they were never there to begin with. My name could be heard through my pain filled haze. "Asa!"

A light shaking of my shoulders brought me back to the real world. A quick look around proved that Teach was gone and the whole pub wasn't on fire. Luffy was staring into my eyes with relief and confusion. Suddenly I realized what had happened. "S-Sorry. I'm not a big fan of… of fire. It just brought back some bad memories."

Luffy seemed to understand and didn't push it. He pulled me in for a hug and I was shocked at first but hugged him back, willing myself not to cry. _Not here. _"I'll help you fight the monsters. All of them." He whispered to me. I nodded and smiled into his shoulder.

He stepped back from me and noticed my smile. Before I could step back as well, he gave me a light kiss on the forehead. My face erupted in a blush and I gapped at him. Luffy smiled and I could see Nami and Zoro share a mischievous smirk behind his back. "W-What was that for?" I stuttered out trying to get my face to go back to its normal colour.

He laughed. "Makino used to do that for me and Ace when we were feeling sad!"

I smiled too. _He's so innocent. _Nami and Zoro snickered. When I looked over at them they turned around, sitting themselves back at the bar and trying to act natural. I narrowed my eyes and sat down as well. _What are they up to… _

Sadly though, the Straw Hat's never get a break and just when I was about to suggest we go back to the ship, so I could get my arm looked at before it got infected, evil guy number two walked in the doors.

"Is there a pirate wearing a straw hat in here?"

I almost scoffed as we turned around. _Was he blind or just stupid? _I be completely honest, I was feeling much better now that the whole thing with Teach was over with. Besides the dull stinging in my arm of course.

"I-It's Bellamy!" A random guy exclaimed.

Bellamy smiled and chuckled. "You the one with a 30,000,000 bounty, Straw Hat Luffy?"

Luffy rested his back casually against the bar. "What?"

Zoro took a gulp of sake. "Looks like he's calling you out, Luffy."

Bellamy stopped in front of Luffy, staring him down.

"I'm meeting a lot of huge guys today." Luffy exclaimed. I almost laughed. It was true, Teach had been a pretty big guy.

"I'll have the most expensive liquor you've got. And give the shrimp here something he likes." Bellamy ordered the bartender. He then turned to me and smiled. "Sorry, do you think I could have that seat?" He asked in mock politeness.

I shrugged and got up, not wanting to mess with anything here. "Knock yourself out." I went over to stand beside Nami and he took my spot.

The rest of Bellamy's crew came in and sat down, looking like they were about to watch a show. To them it probably was. Luffy and Bellamy's drinks were placed in front of them and just as Luffy was about to take a drink of his, Bellamy slammed his head into the bar, breaking it in half.

I winced and had to force myself not to run to Luffy's aid. Zoro however was instantly out of his seat with his sword to Bellamy's neck. Bellamy glanced at the sword. "What do you think you're doing, underling?"

"That's a question _you _should answer." Zoro glared harshly. _Looking totally badass might I add. _

Nami stood up waving her hands. "Zoro! Wait a minute! We still haven't gotten any information yet, and-!"

"Shut up!" Zoro yelled. "This guy asked for a fight and I'm giving it to him!"

Luffy stood up and wiped the dirt from his face. "So you can still stand, huh?" Bellamy remarked.

"Okay then, I hope you've prepared yourself." My captain said, getting serious.

The bar all cheered. "Oh! Looks like that guy's gonna take on Bellamy!"

Bellamy laughed hysterically. _Yeesh, no wonder they call him 'Hyena'. _"This won't be a fight, it'll be a test! Come on! Show me what kind of power you've got!"

Luffy hesitated and I could almost see the memory of Shanks flash behind his eyes. I smiled fondly at my captain.

"Luffy, wait!" Nami shouted before turning to the bartender who was watching casually. "Hey Oji-san, we came seeking information on Sky Island! Do you know anything about it?"

The whole bar went silent staring at Nami in shock. The navigator looked around nervously before turning back to the bartender again. "Because if you know the way to Sky Island…"

He moment the words left her mouth everyone erupted in laughter. Nami shrunk back a little and muttered. "What? But the Log Pose is pointing directly at the sky!" This just elicited more laughter and taunting. Nami looked completely put out and I felt sorry for her. I knew what it was like to be laughed at like this, it wasn't fun but you learn to ignore it.

Bellamy took a seat, still chuckling. "Oi, oi, come on now. You guys believe that old cock-and-bull story about there being an island in the sky? Man, what era are you living in? There are many unique ocean currents on the Grand Line. One of 'em's called the Knock Up Stream. I'm guessing you've never heard of it. Ships that fall victim to that current are blasted high into the sky, only to fall straight back down into the ocean. A bunch of ignorant sailors from long ago saw ships falling down from it, and imagined an island in the sky. 'There must be another world up in the sky!'" Bellamy smirked. "What a load. Even crazy stuff like that has a rational explanation! All dreams can be explained!"

Luffy clenched his fist as Bellamy continued. "What a shock. I was going to let you into my crew if you passed the test of the New Era, but you're a lost cause. Listen up. The age where pirates dream is OVER! The City of Gold? The Emerald City? The great treasure One Piece?! Fools with their eyes on dream treasures don't notice the REAL treasure all around them! In this era of the sea, the very men who are able to cross it all die chasing after illusions like those! And what do they say about those men? 'He always lived happily for the sake of his dream!' The words of a loser! Looking at dream-chasing idiots like you, really makes my stomach turn!"

Luffy's fist relaxed and Bellamy slammed his fist into Luffy's cheek. The boy simple let it happen and was knocked to the ground.

"It's because of weaklings like you that the rest of us real pirates get a bad reputation." With that, Bellamy threw down his glass beside Luffy's head. It shattered, glass shards scratching his cheek. _This is going to be hard to watch. _

I could barely stand it when Luffy got a slight bruise and now I was expected to sit back and watch as he and Zoro are beaten to a pulp? It was hard to decide if I should step in or not.

I sat still when the rest of the bar started throwing bottles and mugs at us. Nami covered her head with her arms, trying to avoid the spraying shards.

"Luffy! Zoro! Asa! Forget about the promise! Beat the crap out of these guys already!" Nami almost begged, wanting the ridicule to stop. Luffy sat up and turned his gaze to me. We locked eyes and I instantly understood. Giving him a short nod I went to stand with Zoro. Luffy then looked at Zoro.

"Zoro, we aren't going to fight."

Nami looked completely stunned.

What seemed like hours later Luffy, Zoro and I stood dripping with blood from the many cuts that littered our skin. To be honest I hadn't even meant to be in the one sided fight. Luffy had given me his hat to look after and out of reflex I punched a guy who tried to lay his grubby hands on it. That led to him getting pissed and I also became a target. Nami was now in the care of the precious straw hat.

The navigator watched with a confused and almost betrayed look as we were ridiculed in front of everyone. "Why are you doing this?" She said quietly to herself.

"On top of being weak, you have no pride! You won't accept any fight, and yet your heads are full of dreams! Just like worms!" Bellamy mocked.

I rolled my eyes. _That didn't even make sense. _Sadly, Bellamy seemed to notice that. He stood up, grabbing a bottle of sake and walked towards me. "Seems like this one's still got some attitude left." He smirked. He used the mouth of the bottle to lift my chin so I was forced to look into his sick grey eyes. In my head, I kept repeating the same thing over and over. _Don't fight. Don't fight. Don't fight. _

Luffy tensed when Bellamy leaned towards me. The blonde bastard whispered in my ear. "I like you. What do you say to joining my crew."

I swear I almost threw up. Instead however I let out a laugh. "I will only ever call one man my captain and that certainly isn't you." I told him with a steady voice, despite the injuries I had. Luckily the only major one was my arm, which I really needed to get Chopper to look at.

Bellamy growled at me and punched me across the cheek. I fell to the ground, a small trail of blood dripped down the corner of my mouth. _Crap, must have bit my tongue._

"So, you call the weakling your captain? The boy can't even fight. I've never seen two bigger cowards." Bellamy walked in front of Luffy and filled his mouth with sake before spitting it all over my captain. He then turned to Zoro and kneed him in the face, throwing him back into some tables and chairs. I got up slowly in time to see Bellamy smash Luffy's face through a window. Blood dripped from the fractured glass. I inched my way to Luffy's side.

I may have been beaten as well but nowhere near as bad as these two. My captain was lying on his stomach, small drops of blood around him. Nami came over quickly and looked between the two men, making sure they weren't too badly injured.

With a few more laughs Bellamy looked over at us. "Get out of here. While you still have your lives." He ordered.

With no other choice, I threw Luffy's arm over my shoulder and pulled him out of the bar. Nami grabbed Zoro by his collar being a lot less gently then I. Nami walked in front of me. By her stiff posture I could tell she was pissed. Rightfully so, had I not understood what Luffy was doing then I'd be mad too. I looked down at Luffy who was hanging his head. I could see enough of his face to see that his eyes were open, watching the ground pass beneath our feet.

"You did good Luffy. It takes a real man to be able to walk away from a fight that isn't worth it."

Raised his head up and smiled. I winced at seeing the blood covering his face. "We should probably get to Chopper."

Before we could go any further, a voice stopped us.

"Sky Island does exist."

We turned back to see Teach sitting in the middle of the street eating the pies from the pub. Nami narrowed her eyes at him. I helped Luffy stand up and he looked at Teach with a blank expression. "Why the long face, Nee-chan?" Blackbeard asked, noticing Nami's mood. "Those two won that fight. And the tongue lashing you gave them was pretty impressive too. You've got some guts, women!" He turned to me, smiling a toothy grin, showing off his multiple missing teeth. To any outsider it would look like a friendly gesture. But I knew. I knew the pain he would soon cause and I would hate him for it until my last breathe.

"This 'New Era' they talk about is _shit._" He continued. "The age where pirates dream is over!? Eh!? PEOPLE'S DREAMS NEVER END!"

The other people on the street lightly teased Teach but he just laughed it off before getting up, looking straight at Luffy.

"Let them laugh. If you seek the Summit, you'll find fights your fists alone could never take you to! Follow it!"

Zoro stood up, brushing some dirt off his shoulder. "Let's go." He said simply. We turned and started to walk away. Luffy stayed until Teach himself got up and walked away.

Nami went up to Luffy. "Hey, he might have known something about Sky Island. Who was that guy?"

"Dunno. And it wasn't 'that guy'." Luffy said under his breathe.

Nami looked at him, brows furrowed. "Huh? Wasn't 'that guy'? Then… what?"

"It was 'those guys'. Probably." Zoro said. Nami glanced around, looking for the supposed guys they were talking about. She pouted in annoyance when she didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"What do you mean? You mean that guy had nakama with him? Where were they? Hey, tell me!"

I almost felt bad for Nami, she must be so confused.

It wasn't long before we reached the ship again. It looked like Ussop had been doing some patch work to Merry.

Speaking of Ussop, he noticed us approaching and dropped some planks of wood in shock. "L-L-Luffy, Zoro, Asa! How'd you get all messed up!? What the hell happened!?"

At the sound of my name and 'all messed up' in the same sentence Sanji was at the ships railing in seconds. "Asa-chwan!? What happened!? I'll kill the bastard who thought he could get away with this!" the cook yelled angrily.

"DOCTOR!"

"That's _you! _Go help them!"

I sighed as Chopper rushed to treat our injuries.

_Well. There goes my good mood. _

**Ang3l: Well that's it for now! I wanted to ask people if they wanted me to start doing that Coming Up thing on my profile. I don't really know if anyone actually used it or not so if you'd like me to start putting up previews for the next chapter then just let me know!**

**Asa: And that's a wrap!**


	3. Monkey's and Flights

**Ang3l: Okay! Minor inconvenience! **

**Asa: More like technical difficulties.**

**Ang3l: I'm really sorry about that! In all my excitement I accidentally uploaded the wrong document to the chapter. But here is the real chapter! And I triple checked this time, I swear. Some more LuffyxAsa to look forward to! I also wanted to say that I am completely stunned. 27 reviews in 2 chapters!? That is completely amazing! Thank you guys and gals! You are so awesome. You probably read this all the time from authors but trust me, we don't say it unless we mean it! Thanks again!**

**Asa: Free cookies to all! Enjoy!**

**Chapter III**

**Monkey's and Flights**

"So? How many monsters did you end up fighting?" Ussop asked, leaning against Merry's railing.

I grabbed Luffy's arm and lifted it up so I could tend to the cuts on his elbow. Chopper was just finishing fixing up Zoro. Once all the blood was off the two, their cuts weren't actually that bad, which I was thankful for. I was pretty exhausted, mentally and physically. Standing by and watching my friends-no, my family- get hurt was not an easy thing to do.

My injuries had already been taken care of, the burn on my arm was tightly wrapped, restricting my shoulders movement. It was annoying but necessary, according to our doctor.

I gently dabbed a swab that was soaked in disinfectant against one of the larger cuts. Luffy didn't even flinch. "Just a pirate." My captain answered calmly. "Don't worry, it's all finished."

I smiled. _Jeez, these guys can come back from anything. _Zoro agreed and went to lean against the railing. Nami grumbled. "You guys may think it's finished, but I don't."

I moved to sit in front of Luffy, grabbing his chin so I could angle his face and clean the cut on his cheek. I had to fight down a blush when he met my eyes and smiled. I grabbed a small rag and wiped off some blood, avoiding eye contact and focusing on what I was doing.

Meanwhile Nami continued to shout and complain. "What the hell!? You men are supposed to take on whoever wants to fight you and beat them up! No! This whole town should be razed to the ground for pissing me off!"

Zoro looked at her through half lidded eyes. "And what was it you said at the beginning?"

Nami whipped towards him, eyes completely demonic. "THE PAST IS THE PAST! Don't bring up old details! I'll beat your head in!"

I pushed Luffy's bangs out of the way so I could put a bandage on one of the larger cuts. I smoothed it on, being careful not to push too hard and when I was done I sat back, doing one last look over to make sure that I got all of his injuries. "Thanks." He said. I nodded and smiled.

I gave Chopper his supplies back and lied back on the deck. "Oi, how come she's so pissed when she wasn't even hurt?" Ussop sweat-dropped.

"Well, dunno."

"Ridicule makes people testy." I hummed, closing my eyes.

Chopper finished putting away his supplies and suddenly looked up. "Oh yeah! Did you find out anything about Sky Island?" He asked in his cute little voice.

Nami's face darkened, causing us all to shiver and Chopper to burst into tears. "Sky-Is-land? I don't care about that place anymore! Just _mentioning _Sky Island made the whole bar laugh at me! WAS IT _THAT _FUNNY!?"

Ussop hit the floor using a ketchup boshi to fake death and Chopper went into Guard point. Both too scared to face the navigators wrath.

"Things certainly are lively here!" Robin said walking onto the deck. "What's all the excitement about?"

"Oh! Welcome back, Robin-chan! Would you like some food? Would you like to bathe?"

I raised a brow at Sanji and sat up. _Okay then… that's a bit of a random question… _

Luffy stood up. "What's up, Robin? Did you go somewhere?"

Robin smiled from under her rather stylish purple cowboy hat. _Hmm… I need to get myself a hat… _"Yes, to get clothes, provisions, and information about Sky Island."

Nami jumped up and pointed an accusing finger at her. "THAT"S RIGHT, IT WAS _YOU_, ROBIN! You're to blame for telling us about Sky Island! If it doesn't exist, I'm throwing you overboard!"

Ussop approached Robin, carefully moving away from Nami. "Be careful around her for now… Actually, just stay away from her altogether. Nami's had a rough day."

Robin sprouted some arms in front of Luffy, handing him what looked like a map. "Here you go, Captain."

"Oh, a treasure map!"

I got up and looked over Luffy's shoulder at the map. "Where is this a map of Robin?" I asked already knowing the answer.

"It's this island. The picture of the town on the left is where we are now, Mocktown." I laughed at the rather fitting name. "And on the opposite side, there's an X, right? Apparently, an outcast of Jaya is living there."

"An outcast?"

"His name is Montblanc Cricket." Robin opened the door to the storage room, which was also connected to the women's quarters. "A man who was chased from this town for speaking about dreams. It makes sense, don't you think?" Robin walked in and closed the door behind her.

We all looked at the map again. "Okay, let's go check!" Luffy decided.

"Hai Captain!"

We set sail for the other side of Jaya, with no time to lose. It didn't take us long before we ran into some trouble.

"It's kind of weird to see them so soon. But they're not the same as the guys from before, Ussop." Luffy said, referring to the ship in front of us.

Sanji sighed. "Well, we can't say if that's a good thing or a bad thing yet."

This ship was the same monkey style as the last one but luckily it was a little easier on the eyes. A few large trees seemed to be growing on deck and there was a large monkey face posing as the figurehead. A voice called over from their ship. "You should quit that mouth-flapping over there! Dang, my heart was all a pitter-patter wonderin' who you were."

The Merry pulled up beside them and we finally saw who was talking. There was silence amongst our crew for a moment.

"You have a weird face!" Luffy mused. "What species are you?"

"I'm human, you numbskull!"

"My eyes!" I screamed slapping a hand over them. _I'm never going to be able to un-see this._

This seemed to rile up the monkey-mans crew. "YOU JERKS!" They shouted. "You mean you haven't heard of the Big Boss of the Shojo Pirates, the King of Underwater Exploration, Shojo-sama!? Don't you go making Big Boss mad!"

Shojo waved his hand dismissively. "Nevermind, nevermind. You seem to be pirates. Have you heard? Crocodile of the Shichibukai has fallen from power. In terms of merit, I may have a chance of grabbing his seat. My heart's a pitter-patter as I wait!"

"Eh? You wanna be one of the Shichibukai?" Luffy asked, crossing his arms.

"Eh? You wanna know what's so great about me? How about how I never cut my hair once in the 25 years since I was born! Well? Are you surprised?"

…

"You're an idiot." Luffy stated bluntly. I laughed, my eyes still covered. I didn't want to subject myself to that kind of torture again.

"Understand this." Shojo said darkly. "Pass through the tunnel that is my anger, and you shall find a sea of blood."

"Yeah, anyway… We've got somewhere we gotta go. So move already." Luffy said offhandedly.

This didn't sit well with Shojo apparently. "YOU INSOLENT FOOL! THIS STRETCH OF SEA IS MY TERRITORY! IF YOU WANT TO PASS, PAY THE TOLL!"

Ussop, who was trying to hide behind Chopper said "Territory? That's the same thing Masira said."

"What? Masira?" Shojo asked. "What about Masira?"

Luffy turned back to the Monkey. "Well, we sorta kicked him but…"

Shojo raged. "K-KICKED!?" The monkey's crew tried to calm him down. "FOR MY BROTHER…"

"Oi!"

"REVENGE FOR MASIRA!"

"W-Wait a minute. We kicked him but he's still alive!" Luffy tried but it was too late.

Shojo shouted out his attack "SOUND WAVE! HAVOC SONAR!"

Suddenly a horrific sound filled the air, you could even feel the sound waves from it pulsing in the air. I opened my eyes to see the idiot was ripping apart his own ship. Luffy and Sanji just watched.

"And? What is he doing?" Sanji asked, lighting a smoke.

Luffy shrugged. "Dunno. But that's pretty cool, breaking up a ship with his voice."

"C'mon guys!"

We all turned to Nami who was standing on the lower deck. "Quit staring at them and let's get going!"

Sanji began spewing hearts "AYE!"

"Oh! Nami's not a demon anymore!"

Ussop and Chopper made their way onto the lower deck. I was just about to follow when a creaking caught my attention. Upon turning around I saw some of the floor boards peeling up. Gasping I jumped over and slammed my bare foot down on it. It snapped back in place but then I notice the whole ship groaning with the strain of the sound waves. "Oi! Ussop! Merry's in trouble! We have to get out of here fast!"

Ussop noticed his patch jobs around the ship ripping apart. With a bit of a struggle we managed to pull the Merry out of range of his voice and off in the direction we needed to go.

When we were in the safe zone and Shojo's ship was out of sight we all pitched in to fix up what had been damaged.

Ussop was grumbling as he pounded a nail in with his hammer. "Damn. Damn. Damn." He swore with each hit. "That. Orangutan. Putting even more holes in the ship…"

Chopper stood near him with a box of nails. Zoro was hammering some metal reinforcements around the mast and Luffy and I were working on the other side of the ship's railing.

"I've never seen her in such bad condition." Zoro pondered. "Time for a new one?"

"I DIDN'T ASK FOR YOUR OPINION, ASSHOLE! You DO know how we GOT this ship in the first place, don't you!?"

Luffy turned his attention from the nail he was hammering to Ussop. "We know, Ussop. But complaining isn't going to do anything. The Going Merry is an important nakama to us. So, let's work hard and fix her ourselves."

Ussop nodded with a new found determination and got back to work.

I bit down on the nail that was in my mouth, trying not to cry like an idiot. _This was going to be hard to deal with. _Maybe I can stop Ussop from leaving the crew? I mean, it wouldn't really affect anything would it? He was there for most of it anyway. _But wait… He was Sogeking then. _If he didn't leave then he wouldn't create Sogeking as another persona. How would that affect the future? Besides his wanted poster of course…

Because I was too busy with my thoughts, I didn't notice my thumb slip in the way of my hammer until a sharp pain shot through it. I yelped and dropped my tool, the nail falling out of my mouth.

Luffy looked over at me as I waved my hand around, trying to get rid of the pain. He laughed, when I stuck my thumb in my mouth and sucked on it gently. I looked over at him, wondering what was so funny. Noticing my questioning look he laughed again. "You look like a little kid!"

"Oi! Shut up! That really hurt, you're lucky you're made out of rubber…" I grumbled, pulling my thumb out of my mouth, a mischievous smile on my face. "Well, being rubber does have its down sides though… because people can do this!"

I jumped towards Luffy, taking him off guard, and grabbed onto his cheek. I pulled as hard as I could, planting my feet on his chest for leverage. When I got as far as I could I let go of his cheek and dropped my feet at the same time, causing him to fling back and slam into the mast.

Zoro had just managed to duck out of the way in time and glared at me. "Hey! Watch it!"

I laughed at Luffy's dazed look as he hit the deck. He glared at me good naturedly, which only caused me to laugh harder. Before I had time to react he shot his arm across the deck and wrapped it around my waist, he then grabbed on to the top of the mast and rocketed us both hundreds of feet into the air. I screamed as my feet lifted from the deck, the rest of the crew not even caring.

The arm Luffy had around me retracted to its normal length, pulling me into his side. I hugged him as tight as I could, knowing that he would keep me safe. We reached the peak of our ascent and there was a short moment that felt like we were just hovering. My screams morphed into laughter and shouts of glee. It wasn't very often that you got to see the world from this high up!

As we started to fall I glanced up to Luffy and met his eyes. He was staring down at me with a small smile. I felt a blush spread across my cheeks, a feeling I was becoming more and more familiar with. My heart was thumping and I knew it wasn't because we we're falling.

"Being rubber has its up sides though." I heard him say over the wind. I couldn't help but laugh. We neared the ship and I gave him a light peck on the check.

Luffy hit the deck first and softened my landing. I noticed his smile seemed a little wider then it was before and something shone in his eyes that I didn't recognize.

I only had time to return a smile of my own before something out of the corner of my eye caught our attention. I gapped at the large colourful castle that stood on the edge of the bank. It was amazing! But extremely bright.

"Is that his house!?" Luffy asked astounded. "It's a palace!"

"Is this Montblanc Cricket guy loaded or something!?"

Zoro rolled his eyes. "Idiots, take a closer look."

"A man who dreams, huh?" Sanji said, sounding amused. "More like a big show-off."

Luffy jumped off of the ship and ran up to the castle. Upon having a closer look, Luffy yelled in shock "It's just a board!"

"WHAT!?"

I pouted. It would have been so cool if it were real. "He only has half a house. The rest is just makeshift."

"So the man's a cheapskate."

I laughed. "I don't think that's it."

"What makes you say that?" Ussop questioned.

I shrugged.

Nami turned to Robin. "What king of dreams was he talking about that got him kicked out of town?" she asked.

Robin frowned. "I don't know the details but, apparently he claimed that a mountain of gold resides somewhere on Jaya Island."

I leaned forward with interest. "Gold!?" Nami and Ussop exclaimed, also very interested.

"You mean like some pirate's treasure or something!?" Nami asked wanting to absorb any information possible.

My eyes widened. "Eldorado…" I whispered to myself. Robin looked over at me questioningly.

"What was that, Miss Darkness?" I sweat-dropped at the name. _Was that really what she was calling me? Jeez… _

"Um, it's nothing. It just made me think of Eldorado for some reason." I explained scratching the back of my head.

Nami looked over at me as well. "What's Eldorado?"

"It's what the people from where I'm from call the City of Gold!"

Nami's eyes turned to Berri signs and she started shining brightly, almost drooling. _Oops… I think I broke her… _"It's just a myth though. No one knows if it really exists." Nami's mood did a complete one eighty and she dropped to her knees in depression.

I laughed and turned to jump off the ship. I looked over to the half house to see Luffy just opening the door and walking in. Slapping a hand to my forehead, I sighed. _That boy had no manners whatsoever. _I noticed Nami looked at something on a table. She apparently got over her depressed mood rather quickly.

"Oi, come look at this." She called. She picked up the book which I recognized immediately as the story of Norland the Liar. I smiled, I honestly loved the story despite the bad ending.

Nami began reading it and I listened until Luffy moving to the water's edge caught my attention. I went to crouch beside him wondering what it was he was looking at. When I noticed the bubbles we shared a curious look and leaned a bit closer, trying to get a better look.

All of the sudden an arm shot up and grabbed my wrist and pulled. I barely had time to gasp in shock before I bumped into Luffy, knocking both of us into the water.

"LUFFY! ASA!"

**Asa: Lame...**

**Ang3l: S-Shut up! At least I'm trying! **

**Asa: When are they going to kiss for real!?**

**Ang3l: You mean, when are 'you' going to kiss him for real? I don't kn- wait... yes I do! I just had a Eureka moment! Oh... this is going to the amazing. I just have to get them into the sky, that's when the real fun begins!**

**Asa: Oh no. She's plotting! Everyone, run and hide!**

**Ang3l: Well, sorry if that ending felt a bit rushed. I'll probably update another chapter to the collection before I get the next chapter for this up. I won't mess it up again. That probably confused a lot of me though, I'm really tempted to get to the Sky Island adventure already and I bet you guys are too but just bare with the boring stuff a little longer! I'll try and make it as interesting as possible!**

**Until Next Time!**


	4. My Knight In a Straw Hat

**Ang3l: Okay, here you go! Not much to say right now so enjoy!**

**Chapter IV**

**My Knight In a Straw Hat**

I trudged. Yes, trudged. Apparently people can actually do that! Who knew… Where was I? Oh yes, I was trudging. In the middle of a forest infested with the freakiest insects I'd probably ever see. All because we had to look for a stupid bird with a stupid call in this stupid forest. It was all just so… stupid!

_Yep. My good mood has passed away. I shall hold a service in its memory. _

After Luffy and I had been pulled into the water, everything continued according to the anime. We met Montblanc Cricket - who was to blame for my wet hair and clothes. Also the man seemed to be rather trigger happy and had tried to shoot us multiple times for no real reason. Chopper explained to us that he was ill with a sickness that divers commonly get from coming up to the service to quickly and causing nitrogen bubbles to get trapped in their system, leading to all sorts of problems.

Those two monkey dudes, Masira and Shojo, showed up as well. Coincidentally they were good friends with Cricket. Not surprisingly Luffy and them became fast friends despite our earlier difficulties with them.

Cricket explained to us how he was related to that Norland guy in the children's book he also told us about how he was searching the bottom of the ocean for the City of Gold that had seemingly disappeared. It was a bit sad to think that this man's whole family line had been looking in the wrong direction for nearly 400 years. We would put a stop to that soon however.

Well that is, if we ever made it up there! I was really anxious to see Skypeia. Honestly I'd die happy if I got to see it once at least.

So anyway, you probably get the idea of where we are now. Cricket told us we needed to find the South Bird in order to navigate to the Knock-up Stream, which was our one way ticket to the island in the sky.

And that is what I was currently doing.

We had split into groups upon entering the forest. Luffy and Chopper went together, Sanji insisted on being with one of the girls so he was put with Nami and Ussop, leaving Robin, Zoro and I as a group.

Except for the fact that Zoro and Robin had gotten lost and I was now _trudging _by myself in a dark creepy crawly infested forest.

I stopped my face going pale. _Oh my god. I'm turning into Zoro._

I looked around, trying to see anything that might tell me where the heck I was. In the distance I could hear multiple screams from my nakama but I didn't worry. They could handle themselves.

Besides, I had bigger problems to worry about. Considering I think I just walked in a circle. The fact that I could see the back of Crickets house through a break in the trees meant I really _was _turning into Zoro.

Sighing I gave up and headed in that direction, knowing that the others would get the South Bird eventually. Maybe I could help out here with the ship repairs.

Soon the Merry was going to look like a chicken.

When I came out of the forest however, I froze in horror, not expecting the sight that lay before me. A large hole was punched right through the middle of the half house and I could just make out Shojo's floating body in the water. Masira was lying face first on the ground blood all across his back. I turned my gaze to Cricket who was also lying on the ground covered in wounds. Not to mention, the Merry was a complete wreck.

I gasped and ran over to the man. "Cricket-ossan!" I knelt down beside him but didn't dare move the injured man, to scared of making it worse. I searched the area, looking for the cause of this disaster.

My eyes rested on Bellamy. _Of course. How could I have forgotten. _I ground my teeth, pure hatred coursing through me. Slowly standing up I glared at Bellamy's back as he made his way towards his ship, laughing like the idiot he was.

"Y-You BASTARD!" I shouted, gaining his attention as well as his crews. He frowned at me then his lips twisted up into a sick smile.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is! The feisty girl from the bar! Come to join a real crew have you?" He taunted.

My hands tightened into fists and I could feel darkness envelope them.

The crew sat in the forest. They had all managed to regroup after many failed attempts at trying to catch the bird. "No luck." Zoro sighed. "We didn't see a single one."

Luffy sat on a root that was sticking out of the ground, trying to catch his breath. "We saw on, but there were bugs all over the place, so we couldn't get close!" He explained.

Chopper lay on his back panting tiredly. "We ran the whole time."

"Damn, eight of us and we come up with nothing?" Ussop groaned.

Nami perked up. "Speaking of which, where's Asa? I thought she went with you guys." She asked Zoro and Robin. Both of them shrugged.

"We got separated, haven't seen her since."

Before anyone could speak further on the subject, the object of their distress landed on a branch nearby. The colourful bird hopped back and forth making a deep _Chu Chu _noise.

Chopper translated "You'll never catch me! STUUUPID!"

"What was that!?" Ussop yelled. "You came here just to gloat!?" The sniper readied his sling shot but before he could fire, arms wrapped around the bird and tossed it off the branch, onto the ground.

They all looked at Robin who just shrugged. "As long as I can see it…"

There was a collective sigh of relief as Zoro picked up the bird and they made their way out of the forest. They were stunned to find the mess that Bellamy caused.

Luffy ran up to Cricket. Sanji went and pulled Shojo back to land with a bit of help from Chopper. "What the hell happened!?" Nami exclaimed.

Ussop ran over to the Merry. The whole front half of the ship had been split and the figurehead was digging into the ground.

"Sor…ry…" A rough voice ground out. Luffy looked down at Cricket in worry.

"Oi, Ossan! You awake?"

"I'm really sorry!" The man said, with a little more force. "We were here, but we couldn't do anything! But, still…" Cricket struggled to sit up. "There's still time. We still have to strengthen your ship!"

Luffy grabbed onto his shoulder trying to get him to stop moving. "Hold on, Ossan!"

Nami's urgent call drew his attention to the girl who was standing in the damaged house. "Luffy! The gold was stolen!"

There was silence amongst the crew, everyone taking in the new information seriously. Cricket however, waved an injured hand. "It… It doesn't matter. Just forget it. More importantly, you guys-"

Ussop stepped forward, interrupting. "What doesn't matter!? Ossan, you spent ten years beating up your body, diving day after day for that gold! And then you're-"

"Shut up, kid!"

Ussop shut his mouth instantly.

"Listen, the gold doesn't matter… That girl…" Everyone tensed. "That girl… they took her." No one needed to ask who he meant. There was only one of them missing.

Before anyone had time to let the full meaning of that statement sink in, Zoro called for Luffy's attention, pointing to a symbol painted on the wall. Luffy's eyes narrowed with realization.

"That's Bellamy's mark…" Nami mumbled.

Luffy stood up stiffly. No one tried to stop him. The only thing going through everyone's mind was worry for their friend. The captain turned to Robin, eyes shadowed by his hat. "If I follow the coast, will I reach that town from this afternoon?"

The archeologist nodded. "Yes, you'll reach it."

Without another word he turned and ran in the direct of the town. Only barely hearing Nami's call for him to be back by noon or else they'll miss their chance of getting to Sky Island.

As he ran, thoughts from earlier rushed through his head. He remembered the kiss that Asa had given him before and if he wasn't so worried about her well-being then he would have blushed. He really didn't know why just being with her made him so happy. Well, being with any of his nakama made him happy. But with her it was different. He didn't understand it but he liked the feeling and he didn't want it to go away.

It seemed the closer he was to her, and the more time he spent with her, the stronger the feeling was.

And now, being so far away from her, almost _hurt. _Though, that also might have been the pure rage he felt against Bellamy. How dare that bastard hurt the Ossan and his friends! How dare he still the gold the man worked his whole life to collect! And how dare he take one of his precious nakama!

_Bellamy was going to pay._

I sat against one of the walls of the bar from earlier. Bellamy had managed to get the upper hand in our fight, which didn't last long, and after displaying my powers he _insisted _I come with him. Said something about selling me off… the sick bastard…

My arms had been tied to my sides and my wrists tied behind my back. For some reason they left my legs free. To be honest though, I wasn't at all worried. I knew Luffy would be here soon to come and get back the gold. I was just really annoyed.

During our fight, my powers seemed to malfunction. I wasn't really sure why but it felt like I had no control over them and the darkness would not cooperate. _That just proves that I need a lot more training. Man I wish Alex was here… _

While I waited for my knight in a straw hat I was forced to the torture of listening to Bellamy's crew brag and boast about their recent 'victory'. That is until a man barged into the pub screaming "WE GOT TROUBLE!" Everyone stopped drinking and looked at him in annoyance and irritation for ruining their fun.

"What's so important, in the middle of the night?" Someone asked.

The man who came in was red faced and sweating, but I doubt it was because of the beer. An evil smirk crossing my lips went unnoticed by the pirates. "Those guys who were at this bar…" The frantic man trailed off when he noticed Bellamy sitting at the bar. "Bellamy!" He exclaimed. "You're still here!? You should get away as soon as possible! You… You're in the most danger of all!"

Everyone shared looks and Bellamy raised an unamused brow. "Eh? What are you blathering about? I'm in danger?"

Without another word the man pulled out two pieces of paper and held them up. From where I sat I could just make out the familiar pictures and the rather large numbers on the wanted posters.

A glass shattered as the bar fell silent.

"100,000,000…"

"60,000,000…" Someone whispered in horror.

"That's right! Those guys from this afternoon, both of them have bounties higher than yours, Bellamy! You'll be killed!"

The man's shout caused everyone to panic. The jumped from their seats shouting and sweating nervously.

"You're kidding! We gotta get outta here!"

"We laughed in the face of someone really strong!"

"Maybe he doesn't remember us! We can't stick around here."

As the crew jerked about in hysteria, my smile grew. _Okay, let's mess with these guys a bit. _

Bellamy shouted for everyone to be quiet, telling them that they were morons for believing a piece of paper and insisting that they were fakes. After everyone calmed down again I took this moment to start giggling.

Everyone in the bar looked over at me. My giggles turned into a burst of insane laughter making sound like a mad man. The people closest to me inched away nervously. When I was sure I had everyone's attention. I abruptly stopped laughing.

One brave man decided to speak up. "O-Oi, oi! W-What the hell's wrong with her!?"

My evil smile never left as I spoke. "Five."

The pirates exchanged confused looks.

"Four."

They flinched at the sound of my voice, realizing that I was counting down. To what, they had no idea.

"Three."

More people backed up, unsure what would happen when I hit zero.

"Two."

I tilted my head up so they could see my eyes. They gleamed with excitement and humor.

"One."

"BELLAMY! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

The shout sounded from outside and everyone jumped from their seats in horror. I squealed at the hilarious scene of at least 30 pirates pissing themselves at the same time. _Perfect timing Luffy!_

Bellamy got up slowly and walked outside, I followed quickly after, using the wall to get myself standing. I pushed through the swinging western style doors and turned to see Luffy standing on one of the tall buildings.

With the moon illuminating him and that serious look on his face I almost fan-girled right there. _Yeah! My hero! _

"Give back the Diamon-head Ossan's gold!" Luffy demanded. His eyes flicked to me, happy that I was alright but not liking that I was tied up. "And give me back my nakama." His glare intensified. Bellamy smirked confidently and I couldn't wait to see Luffy break his face.

Bellamy squatted down, turning his legs into springs and jumping up on top of the same roof Luffy was on. I could just make out what they were saying from down here. The rest of the pirates filed out of the pub to watch.

"I ain't giving it back." Bellamy declared. "And that girl down there will make me a nice profit! Being a pirate yourself, you shouldn't have any objections to that."

"But I do." Luffy said. He wore a calm expression but I could tell by his posture that he was raging inside. "Those guys are my friends. So I'm stealing Asa and the gold back."

Bellamy just laughed. "What's a coward like you gonna do to me?"

The wind blew through Luffy's hair. His straw hat pulling against the string around his neck.

"It's true… It really is him." The man with the wanted posters said comparing the picture to the real thing. One of Bellamy's crew members, Sarquiss, I think, looked over at the guy.

"Oi, why do you still have that thing for? Tear it up already?"

The man looked hesitant. "But what if this wanted poster is real? If he really is worth 100,000,000, there's no way Bellamy would be able to…"

"That's absurd." Sarquiss interrupted. "Just look at that kid. That's no vicious killer, no matter which way you look at him."

I scoffed causing him to glare at me. "Who said anything about being a vicious killer? Jeez, how did you people even make it this far?" I mumbled under my breath. Sarquiss grabbed me by my collar, lifting me up.

"What did you say, you brat!?"

"This is the Grand Line! You think you'd know by now that you can't judge a fighter by appearances alone. You guys are fools. I'm surprised you lived this long. Bellamy's about to find out firsthand what you get for underestimating people." I yelled back at him, smiling cruelly.

Sarquiss dropped me on the ground roughly and turned back to the fight.

I looked back up to the buildings. "If you're just gonna stand there scared like you did this afternoon, you ain't gonna steal anything from me." Bellamy was saying.

"This afternoon was different."

Bellamy burst out laughing. "Oh really? And what exactly is different? Then this time I'll make sure that you'll never give me any of that insolence again! Do you even know how to throw a punch?"

Bellamy used his devil fruit to jump backwards off the roof. The force was enough to knock the whole upper half of the building off. Luffy stumbled but managed to stay on the roof as it fell. He waited for the right moment, when Bellamy sprung towards him, to jump out of the way and land on another roof. I watched as Bellamy landed in front of us, before shooting off towards Luffy again.

This time, only part of the roof was destroyed and Luffy was knocked off. He just managed to grab onto the front of the building. I rolled my eyes as the crew around me started to taunt Luffy. _I can't wait until this is over. _After a few more dodges Luffy finally got hit and was sent hurtling into the ground. I winced when wood split and he caused a large crater.

Luffy stood up, much to the astonishment of Bellamy's crew, and wiped some dirt off his chin. I smiled. _Like that would be anywhere near enough to hurt Luffy._

Bellamy started bouncing off any surface in the area, gaining speed until he was too fast to see. I turned to the nearest pirate to me. "It'd probably be a good idea to release me now." I told him. He gave me an astonished look, about to ask why the hell he would do something like that but he was interrupted by Bellamy's ranting.

"Those guys are your FRIENDS!? Oh I see. That old man and his monkeys are the same species as you!" He taunted. "A pack of idiots who believe the lies of some 400-year-old ancestor! What City of Gold? What Sky Island? THE ERA OF DREAMS IS OVER! YOU'RE A DISGRACE OF A PIRATE!"

Luffy's expression darkened with every word. He finally lifted up his arm, watching Bellamy bounce around. "Do I know how to throw a punch?" Luffy repeated the question from earlier.

Just as Bellamy shot directly at Luffy the crew of pirates laughed thinking that it was over now. I laughed for the same reason but I knew that Luffy had won. Just as Bellamy reach Luffy, my captain brought his fist down, smashing the annoying pirate into the ground. Blood dripped from Luffy's fist and everything was silent.

No one dared to move as their captain had been beaten with a single punch. I turned back to the guy I had addressed before. "I really think you should let me go now." I said smiling sweetly. The man moved almost robotically, pulling out his knife and cutting the ropes around me.

I walked over to Luffy and stood by his side. His eyes softened when he glanced at me but they returned to a cold glare when he addressed Bellamy's crew. "The Ossan's gold. Give it back."

The words were enough to cause everyone to run away, leaving only Bellamy's most loyal crew members which included Sarquiss. None of them stopped Luffy from walking in the bar and taking back the gold that was wrapped up in a brown sack. When he came back out her grabbed my hand and pulled me back towards the ship, completely ignoring the shouts from Sarquiss.

Luffy just laughed and squeezed my hand. I smiled and giggled as well.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING, STRAW HAT!?"

The question caught our attention and we shared a look. Luffy looked over his shoulder and paused. "Where?" He repeated. Sarquiss fell backwards not expecting Luffy to stop. My captain raised one finger and pointed upwards. "The sky!" He said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. To him, it most likely was.

The walk back was mostly quite between us. I was walking slightly behind Luffy as he pulled me along, still holding my hand. I glanced down at our hands and bit my lip. My thoughts were all jumbled. _Should I do it? Would it be awkward? Would he push me away? _I looked up at the sun, it was almost noon.

_This is probably the last time we're going to get to be alone for a while… _

I nodded my head with determination. I wasn't going to let this moment pass. I may not get another chance for a while. Before I could have any doubts I pulled Luffy to a stop.

He looked over at me and blinked in confusion. I stepped up to him and pushed my lips against his before he had time to react. He made a noise of surprise but it was muffled by our contact. I closed my eyes, enjoying the warm feeling of his lips. It took a while but I felt him relax and lean into me, he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer. My arms came up around his neck. We stayed like that for a moment before we had to break for air.

When I pulled away I opened my eyes to see Luffy staring at me. He had a light tinge of pink across his cheeks and he seemed rather confused. I was proud to say that I wasn't blushing, even though my heart was beating a mile a minute. Luffy opened his mouth but closed it again, resembling a fish out of water.

I laughed. "Thanks." That was all I said before I grabbed his hand again and this time I ran ahead, pulling him along. I felt him trip and stumble a few times and looked back to see his eyes glazed over in a daze. This caused my heart to flutter. I just kissed Luffy.

I just. KISSED. Monkey D. Luffy.

The realization made me giddy and I suddenly felt like I had a boat load of energy.

We ran back to the ship, both of us not saying anything. When we got there Nami was yelling at us to hurry up and get on.

"What took you so long?" Zoro asked when we hoped on the Chicken Merry. I scratched the back of my head.

"We, ah… We got held up."

I glanced over at Luffy who was standing still, staring off with unfocused eyes. Zoro seemed to notice this too and raised an eyebrow.

_Crap. I think I broke him. _

**Ang3l: I'm not going to lie, I really enjoyed writing this. I bet you didn't expect a kiss so early huh? Well, there you go! It'll get better! Next chapter, it's off to Skypeia! Let me know what you think!**


	5. Riding the Knock-up Stream and a Letter

**Ang3l: I hope you're excited!**

**Asa: After that long of a wait? They should be!**

**Ang3l: Lot's of fun stuff in this chapter. I try and include something to look forward to in every one of the chapters, even if it's just a little thing like Asa and Luffy kissing in the last one;)**

**Asa: *Blushes* A-Anyway, this is a good length one but not super long. just over the amount that Ang3l's used to writting for a chapter. Though it was needed so...**

**Ang3l: Please enjoy!**

**Chapter V**

******A Letter? From Who? **

**Riding the Knock Up Stream!**

The anchor rose from the water with a splash and a creek, coming to rest against the side of the ship. The Merry pushed forward. As I watched Jaya drift farther and farther away my good mood tripled. It was a great relief to be away from that island. Finally we could get to Skypeia!

Our ship slowly picked up speed, catching the wind. The two monkey guys sailed on either side, acting as our guides to where the Knock Up Stream would happen.

We all shouted our goodbyes to Cricket, who was probably the only good thing about that island. I went to the front of the Merry, leaning against the railing by the figurehead. The more I thought about the Knock Up Stream the more I remember of the storm at home. The more I remember my Aunt and Uncle. It had been a while since I'd had any sort of dream about them, so I really didn't know how they were fairing. _I hope they're okay. _

I couldn't explain how guilty I felt when I thought of them. They were suffering with my 'death' and here I was having the time of my life. It felt almost wrong of me to be so happy when they were so sad.

Thoughts of our adventures flooded through my mind. I wasn't anywhere closer to finding out what this whole Children of the Cradle was or how my powers came to be. The book of Darkness had been no help as of late. I moved my hand in front of my face and tried to will a sphere of energy into my palm. Nothing happened. I let out a frustrated sigh.

Why were my powers acting up now? I was just starting to get the hang of actually using them in battle! What was different? I replayed the past few days events in my head. Nothing really stood out except for…

_Teach. _

It occurred to me that Teach had the power of the Yami Yami no mi. My eyes narrowed at the oceans waves. Had his powers somehow affected mine? When he touched my arm it had obviously done some damage but… Did it also screw up my control? If so, how long would it last? I was completely useless to the Straw Hat's without my powers.

If Teach could mess up my control of the darkness then would I be able to mess up his? If I ever had to fight him then this could be serious.

I shook my head, throwing away all the thoughts of 'What if' and replacing them with anticipation for our next big adventure. _No point in worrying about it for now. _

I turned around resting my elbows on the white railing and looking at Luffy. The rubber boy was pestering the poor south bird, who was chained to the Merry. I smiled when I remembered what had happened between us not even an hour ago. Luffy seemed to have recovered, thank god. I was seriously getting worried when he didn't even respond to the word 'meat'.

Nami and Zoro kept shooting me strange looks every now and then but I ignored them. Who knows what's going on in their heads.

Luffy grabbed the South Birds head and turned it to the side, only for it to snap back in the direction the ship was going. Luffy laughed at the increasingly annoyed bird.

"Thanks for bringing us here!" Luffy shouted, waving at the Monkey's.

Ussop ran up beside him, almost throwing himself off the railing. "WAIT! YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME! I'M SCARED OUT OF MY MIND! I WANT TO GO BACK, DAMMIT! THIS IS CERTAIN DEATH!"

"NO ONE TOLD ME ABOUT A GIANT WHIRLPOOL!" Nami freaked out as well. I laughed and ran to the left side of the Merry. We were caught in the current of a huge whirlpool, slowly making our way to the center - which looked like a black hole - with each circuit. This only served to scare Nami, Ussop and Chopper even more.

Ussop turned to Luffy, tears and snot running down his face. The sniper looked like he was in need of some new underwear. I tried not to scrunch up my nose at the thought. "We need to pull out, Luffy! We can still make it! You understand, right? The whirlpool alone is enough to kill us!" He tried reasoning. It made me think back to when Luffy first set out. Wasn't he caught in a massive whirlpool then too? Something like this wouldn't scare him! "Sky Island's just a dream within a dream!" Ussop cried.

Luffy frowned softly and repeated "A dream within a dream? I guess so…" he mumbled.

Nami didn't look to be in much better shape than Ussop. "That's right, Luffy!" She said, thinking that they were getting somewhere. "I don't think I can do this either!" She clasped her hands together, almost begging the boy to spare them.

"An island from a dream within a dream?" He said quietly. He turned to his two horrified crewmates positively sparkling with excitement. "I could never pass up a great adventure like this!"

Ussop and Nami slouched in depression. "He's… He's having fun…"

Chopper looked pretty amazed though. A sharp intake from Zoro caught my attention. I turned to see him looking out at the whirlpool that we now were heading straight into. My eyes widened, being so close now… I could see why Nami and Ussop were worried. "Hey. While you guys were wasting your time whining…" The swordsman said gruffly pointing to the ominous pit of swirling water. "We've entered the whirlpool."

The ship gained speed shooting through the raging water. Everyone panicked, not really sre what to do with ourselves. Sanji noodled over to me when I let out a startled gasp from almost slipping off the railing I was standing on. Probably not I good idea. "Now, Asa-chwan, press yourself against my chest!" the cook spouted. I gave him an incredulous look.

"In your dreams!"

The ship lurched from the water and over the hole in the center. "WE'RE FALLING!" Ussop screamed. I jumped of the railing preferring to wrap my arms around it instead. With a little 'plop' we settled back into now unusually calm water.

There was a pregnant pause.

"What? It's gone?"

_The calm before the storm… _I tried to relax my nerves a bit while I had the chance. The dark clouded sky reminded me to much of the storm that brought me here and I repressed a shudder. _It'll be fine. I know how this plays out. _

"HOLD IT!" A shout sounded. We all looked of the starboard side to see Blackbeard and his men on a ship made out of logs. It just looked like a huge raft to me.

"Oi, Zoro. Look." Luffy said, recognizing the men from Jaya.

Teach laughed manically. "We caught up to you! Straw Hat Luffy!"

I growled dangerously under my breathe and tightened my hold on the railing to keep from doing anything rash. "Who is that?" Sanji asked biting his cigarette.

"I've come for your 100,000,000 berri head! Give yourself up!" He shouted as his ship advanced, drawing nearer and nearer. _Come on bastard… Just a little closer. _

Luffy folded his arms and frowned in confusion. "My head? Whaddya mean, 100,000,000 berri?"

"So you really didn't know." Teach held up two wanted posters. One was for Luffy and the other was for Zoro, having an impressive 60,000,000 berri price.

Ussop pulled a pair of binoculars from his bag and confirmed that they were indeed new wanted posters. Sanji seemed a bit stricken that he didn't have one and if I wasn't mentally killing Teach in a thousand different ways, I would have laughed at the fact that he probably wouldn't want a bounty if he knew what his picture would look like.

The water below us seemed to bulge, raising the ship. I gripped the railing until my knuckles turned white. "Wait!" I said aloud. "He's not close enough yet!" But despite my attempts to encourage the water to wait until I'd be sure Teach would die, it didn't listen.

"Everyone brace yourselves on the ship or get into the cabin!" Sanji warned. Ussop and Nami grabbed on to the cabin wall, Chopper and robin steadied themselves by the mast and Sanji and Zoro grabbed on to the railings as well. We all tensed feeling the intensity of the water even through the deck.

Like popping a balloon, the current burst forth, throwing us hundreds of feet in the air in a matter of seconds. The air in was forced out of my lungs and I shook with the effort to stay on the ship. Chips of wood and split mast fell past us. I recognized it was parts from Teach's ship. _Too bad they don't die from this. _

The Merry stabilized on the side of the column of water, miraculously not falling off.

"This is amazing!" I yelled over the wind. I looked over to see Luffy holding on to the figurehead, shouting in joy. Most of the crew was standing on the cabin wall because the ship was going up vertically. I dropped down and landed with them before lifting open the door and dropping into the kitchen. Maneuvering around a sideways room was strange. It felt like a fun house or something. I managed to get down to the girls quarters where Nami allowed me to keep my stuff. Despite having taken up residence with the guys, I didn't really trust that with their rough housing that my camera would be okay. So Nami let me keep my belongings in here (clothing included. Not sure I trusted Sanji…).

The room was a mess. Anything that wasn't bolted down was piled up on the back wall that now acted as a floor. Being careful not to ruin any of Nami's map stuff our Robins books I dug around to find my backpack.

Pulling it from the mess, I grabbed my camera, quickly snapping on the appropriate lens.

I was halfway out the sideways door when a sound startled me. I looked over my shoulder, not seeing anything obvious right away. It must have been something else falling out of place.

When I got back out, Nami was shouting at everyone to lower the sails. After a short hesitation they ran to do so. My camera hung securely around my neck as I climbed up the ships railing like it was a ladder. I made it to the figure head and wrapped my legs around it, aiming the camera down at the heads of the crew. Chopper was lying on the mast, Luffy and Zoro were unfurrowing the sail, Robin was just casual standing there, Nami was leaning over the side probably calculating something and Sanji was manning the helm.

Wasting no time, I snapped the shot, just as the sail dropped and I ended up getting the jolly jogger in it as well. I smiled. This was my first picture of the crew as a whole!

Suddenly I felt the ship tip and I lost my balance. I fell forward expecting to smash face first into the wall. Luckily Robin sprouted some arms from the mast as I fell by and grabbed the back of my shirt. I smiled at her gratefully. "Thanks Robin!"

When we all thought we were going to fall off the current the wind caught the sail and the wings and lifted the ship so that Merry was about a foot off of the water and still ascending.

"WE'RE FLYING!" Luffy cheered.

I gasped at the weightlessness all of the sudden, a smile threatening to split my face.

"If we sail along this current using this wind, we can go as high as we want!" Our navigator exclaimed.

Luffy looked back at her. "Oi, Nami! Are we gonna make it to Sky Island!?"

Nami pointed up in front of us. "If it really exists, it's just beyond that cloud!"

Luffy looked forwards again, flashy his smile. "I wonder what we'll find there! Remember Asa! No telling!" He yelled down to me.

I laughed. "Not to worry Captain! I won't say a word unless someone might die!" I told him. Ussop started sweating.

"N-No one's going to die r-right!?"

I only shrugged causing him to gulp nervously.

My chest heaved, trying to dispel the water in my lungs. It felt like I had just ran a marathon underwater. My muscles were sore from being so tense for so long and my lips were dry.

The rest of the crew didn't seem to be fairing any better. Zoro coughed roughly and glanced around at everyone. "Damn… What the hell happened? Everyone still here?"

Luffy jumped up quickly and I groaned. Sometimes I was really jealous of his boundless energy. "Oi, everyone take a look!"

"What is this place?"

I struggled to sit up and look around. For a moment my eyes burned with the intense brightness until they adjusted to reveal so much… white! Clouds surrounded us everywhere looking soft and fluffy.

"We're on top of the clouds?" Nami asked surprised. "How are we floating on them?"

"Sure we can float on them. They're clouds." Luffy said smartly, only to be shot down by the other guys.

"This is like the sea of the sky." Nami mused, ignoring Chopper and Luffy trying to give Ussop CPR because he wasn't breathing. I laughed when the sniper woke up and took in our surroundings.

"Sorry to say Ussop." I told him morbidly. "But we all died. Welcome to heaven!"

Ussop screamed and ran around in a panic. Zoro watched me grin evilly with half lidded eyes.  
"Oi, oi." I didn't start to feel bad until Chopper started to freak out as well.

I turned my attention to Nami when she said "But, look. The Log Pose is still pointing up."

"We seem to be in the middle layer of the Cumuloregalis cloud." Robin hummed.

Chopper looked over at her, calming down when she didn't refer to their current location as Heaven. "So we have to go higher? How?"

"That I don't know." Robin admitted.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ussop hop up onto the railing and announce "Captain Ussop is going for a swim!"

My eyes widened when I remembered what would happen. Luffy and Chopper egged him on and I had to stop myself from punching them both in the head. Ussop jumped off the ship and I bolted to the edge, just managing to grab his hand but slipped over the railing in the process. My foot caught in between the railings bars.

The sniper looked up at me in shock but I was too busy trying to keep my grip.

"Asa! Ussop! Hang on!" Someone shouted from the deck. I felt a hand wrap around my ankle and tug me and Ussop back onto the ship.

When both of us were safe I huffed, trying to calm down from the sudden adrenaline rush. Ussop pouted and everyone else looked at me in confusion. "Oi! What was that about! Brave Captain Ussop was just about to have a daring adventure!" the sniper grumbled.

I glared at him. "Idiot! Brave Captain Ussop almost got himself killed! This is a sea made of _clouds_! Since when do clouds have a bottom!"

Ussop paled and everyone nodded in understanding. "If he had jumped in, there's a chance he could have fallen right back down to the ocean." Robin said in agreement.

"Nice quick thinking Asa!" Nami patted me on the back.

I grinned. "Yeah well…"

The crew settled down after that. Everyone was trying to recover from the journey up here. Luffy and Ussop decided to go fishing and we found that the sky sea also had its own type of strange fish. Sanji cooked up some of the catch and it was extremely delicious, as always.

Now I sat with Chopper on what was left of the wings on the Merry. They must have been snapped off somehow during our flight. The little reindeer was sitting in my lap using Ussop's binoculars to search the clouds around us. I listened to the sounds of the crew. Different voices intermingled and the quick clicking of Luffy's sandals and Ussop's boots thumping as they played some sort of game. I hummed softly relaxing to the sounds, taking Choppers hat off and gently stroking the soft fur on his head. He young pirate nudged closer to my hand subconsciously.

A light smile graced my lips. Chopper's fur was soft but Luffy's hair was a million times softer.

I heard the rhythmic slapping of sandals suddenly stop and a slight 'uff' sound. "Oi! What's wrong Luffy?" The sniper asked from behind me. I almost had half a mind to look back to see if something had happened but Luffy's laugh followed by "It's nothing" and the resumed clapping told me I had nothing to worry about.

"Oh, a ship." Chopper said quietly from my lap. I looked down at him then up at the expanse of clouds.

"Really? Where Chopper?"

He raised his hoof to point in the direction of the supposed ship but suddenly stiffened. He squeaked out a disbelieving "Eh!?" and in his rush to get as far away from whatever he had seen, accidently shoved me backwards. I gasped, thumping on the deck with the grace of a one legged elephant.

Sanji was by my side in an instant, helping me up as I rubbed my aching backside. "Oi! Chopper, what's the matter?"

The doctor looked at me in panic. "There's a bull charging at us on a square cloud!"

After a few raised brows something caught my eye.

I tensed when a figure raced across the water straight at our ship. Sanji noticed it as well. "A person? Someone's coming!"

Zoro stepped up to the railing. "He's riding on top of the clouds!"

As the figure came closer we could make out the tribal mask and outfit he was wearing, despite it contrasting heavily with the large rocket launcher in his hand. When the man was in range of the Merry he suddenly jumped into the air, sailing towards us. Sanji threw out a quick warning for the man to stop.

His only reply was "I shall reject you."

Sanji tensed and took a defensive stance. "He wants a fight!"

"Fine by me." Zoro whipped out his swords with a practiced ease.

The man shot his leg out before anyone could react and kicked Sanji into the wall. Tribe-Dude, as I had just dubbed him, landed gracefully before shooting a leg out and kicking Zoro away effortlessly as well. Luffy didn't even have time to move before he was slammed face first into the deck.

Tribe-Dude dashed towards me and with a gasp I fumbled to channel my powers. They spluttered to life, forming a dark glow around my hands only to die out at the last second. Tribe-Dude kicked me in the stomach, hard enough to slam me into the mast.

"H-Hey! What's wrong with you guys!?" Nami shouted.

Tribe-Dude jumped off the railing, high into the air. He readied the rocket launcher on his shoulder, targeting our ship. Just before he could pull the trigger, something slammed into his side, throwing Tribe-Dude into the cloud.

Our savior landed gently on the edge of Merry.

"What!? Who is it now!?" Nami shouted. I coughed and heaved, trying to get air back into my lungs. It wasn't working all that well and I felt rather faint.

"I am the Knight of the Sky." The old man said, turning to address us. And a knight he was. He wore classic medieval armor and held a lance in one hand. A black and yellow cape billowed behind him. The knight turned to where Tribe-Dude had disappeared. "He's retreated."

"What's going on here?" Nami said nervously, than turned to glare at us. "And what's more. What's wrong with you guys? That was pathetic! All four of you together couldn't handle him!"

I resisted the urge to complain that she didn't exactly help either. I took one of my hands away from my aching stomach at pouted at it in frustration. _Damn it… My powers are still hay-wire. Not to mention I can hardly catch my breath! _

Chopper bowed to the Sky Knight. "Thank you for helping us!"

"No need for thanks. This is a service."

Sanji huffed repeatedly. "Dammit… I'm disappointed."

"Somehow, my body…" Luffy paused, breathing heavily as well. "… won't move that well."

I groaned kneeling on the ground. Standing was becoming to exhausting. Robin put a finger on her chin in contemplation. "It must be because the air's so thin."

The Sky knight turned to address us. "Are you Blue Sea dwellers?"

Nami tilted her head at the unfamiliar term but before she could ask what it meant, I answered for her. "Yes, we came on the Knock-Up stream."

Nami glanced at me expectantly, waiting for an explanation. I rubbed my aching stomach. "It's a term they use to describe people who live beneath the clouds."

Happy with the explanation, everyone turned to the Knight again. "But who are you?"

Tuning out this part of the conversation, I turned to see Luffy, Zoro and Sanji sitting up already. I suppressed a groan when my stomach pulsed in a dull pain. _Great. We haven't even gotten to the island yet and I'm already hurt! _

Sanji rushed over to me and shot his hand out, offering to help me stand. I took it gratefully. I looked back over at the knight, now known as Gan Fall. He went on to explain to us what extols were and gave us a free whistle. If we blew it then he would come to help us in any situation. We also were introduced to his Pegasus Pierre who was kind of strange but still adorable.

Just when Gan Fall turned to leave, dramatically riding off into the sky on Pierre, he paused and seemed to consider something.

Seemingly deciding, he turned to us. "None of you would happen to be 'The Dark Song' would you?"

We all shifted and looked at the man suspiciously. I stepped forwards slightly. "That would be me I guess." I answered remembering the little girl in Alabasta calling me that.

He looked shocked for a moment before reaching into his armour and pulling out an plain envelope. He gestured for me to take it. "Someone gave this to me. They said to give it to the Dark Song. I did not see their face however."

I took the paper hesitantly. "Okay… Thanks…"

With that Gan Fall left.

The crew crowded around me, waiting for me to open the letter. I didn't mind so much, I wasn't planning on keeping secrets anymore. Carefully I ripped open the envelope and pull out a small folded piece of paper. The crew leaned in to get a better look. With shaky hands I unfolded the letter.

At the top of the page was a symbol. The silhouette of a raven sat in the center of a cross. At the end of each of the four points there were more silhouettes. An arrow, a lion, the eye of Horus, and an Ankh. While I was contemplating the meaning of this symbol if felt the crew tense up. Wondering what was wrong I scanned the rest of the page.

My eyes came to rest on four words.

Memories came back of my battle in Alabasta with the Children. The fear they instilled in my very soul and the things they made me see were nothing compared to the fear that struck through me right now. I stumbled blindly into someone beside me, dropping the un-signed note. The words burned the backs of my eyes and the voices echoed through my skull. The voices of the Children, with their eerie smoothness, repeating the same thing over and over. _He is waiting._

If only that was what the note had said. No, I'd have taken 'waiting' over this.

_He is coming. Run. _

**Asa: Creepy...**

**Ang3l: Looks like you're going to have to watch your back!**

**Asa: Great, because I don't have enough to worry about *Rolls eyes***

**Ang3l: Oh, it gets worse, trust me. *Snickers evilly* So I hope you enjoyed! I also want to thank everyone again, because it doesn't feel like I do so enough. This story probably wouldn't have made it past the first chapter without your support. I love to see that everyone seems to enjoy this story and I apologize for making you wait so long. **

**You guys are so amazing it makes me want to cry *Sniffles* **

**Until Next Time (Which will be soon!)**


	6. Skypiea and Long Time No See!

**Asa: You kept you're promise!**

**Ang3l: I know! I'm so proud of myself! That wasn't too long of a wait was it? **

**Asa: So, anything you need to inform the readers about for this chapter?**

**Ang3l: Hmm... Fluffy-ness Galore! Which I hope you enjoy;) Also I apologize for any mistakes, I got sick, so my thoughts are kind of everywhere at the moment. I hope you still enjoy regardless. Thanks everyone! **

**Chapter VI**

**Skypiea and Long Time No See**

I bit my thumb nervously, pacing back and forth through the kitchen. After reading the letter we all decided that this was serious and called a meeting of sorts in the galley. The crew were all seated around the table except for Zoro, who was sleeping against one of the walls, Sanji, who was making us snacks and me of course.

The letter sat in the center of the table for all to see.

I couldn't help but feel anxious. Was I being hunted? By who? The Cradle? Why did it have to be me?

Robin inspected the strange symbol. "I don't recognize this. It's not like anything I've ever seen." She frowned, puzzled.

I walked back and forth continuously not caring that I was probably wearing out the floor. "The two symbols I know as the Eye of Horus, and an Ankh but I have no idea what they all mean!"

"Okay so let's get this straight," Nami started, easily taking charge of the situation. "We don't know who sent this letter, we don't know if it's a warning or a threat and we don't know who it mean by 'he'."

I groaned. That was a long list.

"Don't forget about that symbol." Ussop _helpfully _added.

"Asa-san, you don't happen to have any idea's do you?" Sanji asked coming over to put food on the table. I flopped down in the only empty seat left, across from Nami and beside Chopper and Luffy.

"One thing has been bothering me…" I started. "How did whoever sent this know to give it to Gan Fall? How could they have possibly known that we would eventually meet him? Unless…"

Nami's eyes widened. "Unless they're psychic as well."

Everyone sat up straight at this point, their full attention on Nami and I, even Zoro cracked an eye open. I frowned. There is no way. The only people who knew the plot were Alex and I. But what if… What if we weren't the only ones sent here? What if there were others? The thought had come out of nowhere but now that it had, it kind of made sense. Why would only Alex and I be sent here? There must be others but how many?

I sighed, this was too much to think about right now.

Nami, seeing my obvious distress decided to change the subject somewhat. "Until we find out more about this letter, I want someone with Asa at all times."

I sat up at this. Was I just assigned a babysitter? "W-What, hang on, I hardly think that's necessary!" I tried to reason. They wouldn't have it though.

"We don't know how dangerous 'he' could be and don't think I didn't notice your little power shortage earlier."

Gulping, I scratched the back of my head, Nami made a fair point. "Yeah… I really don't understand why that happened… Though I have a theory." I spoke the last part quietly but obviously not quite enough because Choppers great hearing picked up on my words.

_Okay, note to self, let's not talk to yourself when a sound sensitive reindeer is sitting right beside you._

"What theory?" He asked innocently.

"It's nothing, It's just…" I looked up at the crew's expectant looks and almost rolled my eyes. "It's just that I think the man from the bar had something to do with it."

Luffy tilted his head. "The one who ate all those nasty pies?"

I nodded, reaching up to my shoulder which still ached lightly but was healing fast. "Getting back on topic, I really don't need to be watched the whole time, I'll be fine."

Luffy just laughed. "We promised to protect you, so that's what we're going to do!" His declaration left me stunned. I glanced at the others smiling faces.

"I won't let any bastard lay a hand on you, Asa-chwan!"

"We'll keep an eye on you, Captain Ussop isn't about to let one of his comrades get hurt!"

"Just stay out of trouble."

I was almost moved to tears by their willingness to help me, but by now I shouldn't be surprised. "Mina…"

* * *

The sight that lay before us was incredible, for lack of a better word.

Beautiful white fluffy clouds, intricate bridges and stairs leading every which way, buildings that resembled castles and the beach littered with palm trees.

It looked like something out of a story book.

"It's Skypeia!"

We all leaned forward, joy filled each of us. We had all been anticipating this moment after such a long and straining journey.

I glanced around at Merry. She was in rough shape, her sail was torn up, the additions were all but falling off, and I could almost feel the pressure on the hull below my feet.

Luffy took a deep breath, breathing in the thin but fresh air. "What is this place? It reeks of adventure!" Without hesitation Luffy leapt off the figure head. Ussop quickly followed after in an attempt to save his captain, similarly to how I saved him earlier, but he face planted into what I assume was island cloud. Luffy laughed, smartly informing the sniper that it was shallow enough to stand in.

Seeing this I grinned and joined them. There was no way I could have suppressed the squeal of delight when the soft liquid cloud enveloped my ankles. Excited to see more, I ran towards the island. Luffy laughed "Wait up!" He called, racing after me.

When I stepped onto the beach I sighed in pleasure. It felt like walking on cotton candy! Ussop came onto the beach as well, not after Chopper wanted to join the fun too. The boys then proceeded to have a wrestling match while I explored the beach, running around everywhere I could.

It took a while longer but soon everyone was enjoying the new exotic island.

Chopper lay out on a huge soft cloud. "Sky Island would be a great place to sleep."

I laughed from under the tree I was trying to scale. "Come on Chopper! You can't go to sleep!"

"This is your captain speaking!" Luffy announced cheerfully. He had one of his legs wrapped around the branch above me and he was hanging upside down. "There's so much fun stuff to do I don't know where to start! Over!"

"This is Ussop! How about we take a vacation here? Over!" Ussop said back as he piled the cloud up. It looked like he was going to make a cloud castle or something.

Luffy seemed to consider this. "Vacation, huh?" He looked over at me as I once again fell off the trunk of the tree. I pouted and crossed my arms, looking at my captain jealously. He chuckled and shot his arm out, wrapping it securely around my waste. With a sharp tug I flew up and slammed into his chest. The momentum spun us around so that we were now sitting upright on the branch, me in Luffy's lap. I giggled, a faint blush dusting both of our cheeks. Luffy turned back to Ussop. "Sounds good! Rejected!"

Ussop's sly grin turned to a confused frown. "Rejected!? That means no!"

I chuckled and adjusted myself to sit more comfortably in my captain's lap. His arms wrapped tighter around so I didn't fall. Out of the corner of my eye I notice something hanging between the trees palms. Nudging Luffy to get his attention, I pointed over to what looked like a green pumpkin.

Just as curious he stretched out his arm and plucked one from the tree. Despite how carefully he plopped it in my lap I still gasped at how heavy the thing was. Luffy licked his lips. "Hm! Weird looking fruit! Time to eat!" I just barely dodged Luffy's jaws as they clamped down on the fruit, only for him to jump back in shock.

"What's wrong?"

He pouted. "It must not be ripe. It's really hard!"

I ruffled his hair and leaned my head against his shoulder, feeling kind of drowsy. "Maybe you aren't supposed to eat the outside?" I mused.

* * *

Luffy felt his face heat up when he felt Asa's hand run through his hair. He wasn't really sure what this feeling was… Was he sick? He'd never been sick before so he couldn't really tell if he was or not. But he did know one thing for sure, he liked being around Asa.

Okay, he liked being around all of his nakama but this was so much different than that.

He couldn't explain it. Right now with her sitting in his lap and nuzzled on his shoulder everything felt like it couldn't be more perfect. Like time was frozen and they could stay like this forever.

But why was he feeling that way? What was this mysterious thing called? Was it normal to feel that way around someone? He certainly hoped so, the last thing he needed was to get sick and miss out on all the adventures.

As Asa continued to give possible ways that you could eat the fruit his mind wandered back to early. He wasn't so stupid that he didn't know what a kiss was. He saw many people kissing each other around the towns they stopped at over the course of their journey. He just didn't really understand _why _someone would kiss someone else.

Well, until Asa kissed him.

First of all, he really hadn't expected it. Maybe a high five or even a hug but a kiss was the last thing he would have guessed. But now he understood _why _people kissed. It was because it feels _amazing._ Like a grand adventure but somehow better.

For the first time in Monkey D. Luffy's life, he was left speechless.

He was very aware of Asa trying to get him to snap out of the daze he was in. But even the mention of meat didn't have an effect. He didn't want to eat. He didn't want anything to over-power the taste that lingered on his lips.

Luffy wanted that feeling back. The lingering warmth and the taste of ocean air that Asa's lips had left. He had thought of doing the same to the others but somehow the thought wasn't as appealing as kissing Asa was. He really wanted her to do it again. Luffy was worried that if he tried then she might get angry with her. Girls had weird tempers. Nami was proof enough.

Asa lifted her head off of his shoulder and leaned forward suddenly. He had to wrap his leg around the branch to keep them from falling because of the shift in weight. The brunette had an evil smile on her face.

Luffy decided to watch and see what she would do.

"Oi, Ussop!" Asa called down at the sniper below them who made a slight hum in acknowledgement. Before he had time to look up, Asa quickly said "Want some fruit? Here!" Then promptly dropped the heavy fruit on top of the other boy. Luffy laughed hard as Ussop's face was smashed into the cloud castle he was building.

"That HURT, you jerks! Yosh, you just wait right there!"

Asa finally recovered from her laughing fit and spun around to face Luffy. "Shall we run?"

He grinned and nodded. They hopped out of the tree and proceeded to take off down the beach, an angry long-nosed pirate not far behind.

* * *

It was pretty easy for Luffy and I too out run Ussop, even with the few interruptions like Sanji coming to give me an island flower. Eventually Ussop just gave up and went back to do who knows what. We were just about to try and think of some way to eat that fruit (not willing to let it beat us) when a beautiful progression of notes filled the air. The sound gained the entire crews attention.

"What's that sound?" Luffy asked curiously, trying to chew through the skin of the green pumpkin, though more cautiously this time.

"Oi. Someone's here!" Zoro pointed out, looking over at a big clump of cloud that sat on the beach. Sure enough, on the top was a person.

"An angel!" Sanji muttered quietly, taking a closer look. We all waited, listening as she played her final notes. She turned to us slowly and smiled.

"Heso." She said in a soft voice.

"Heso?"

"Did she just say… heso?"

"Yep…"

"What's heso mean?"

The crew muttered to themselves but I, not wanting to be rude, waved in her direction. "Heso!" I repeated back. My nakama gave me strange looks (except for Sanji who had gone into love-cook mode).

The angel looked away from us and down at a little fox creature that was standing near Zoro. I blanked. _Cuteness overload. _"Suu, Come."

Without hesitation the fox ran up to his owner.

The angel came over to us. "Are you from the Blue Sea?"

Luffy answered. "Yeah, we came up from down there. Do you live here?"

"Yes, I do. Welcome to Skypiea's Angel Beach." She then noticed the fruit in Luffy's hands. "Would you like to drink that?"

"Yeah." He said, handing it to her carefully.

"The top of a conasshu is as hard as steel. You can't bite through it." She flipped the fruit over and pulled out a knife. "So from the underside…" She carved a small hole and put a straw in before handing it back to Luffy.

He took a big gulp from it and his eyes lit up. "It's delicious!"

We were then introduced to Conis and her father and they invited us over to their house. Nami decided to stay and ride around on the newly discovered Waver.

* * *

We all sat in the living room of Conis's house except for Sanji and Conis's father who were currently in the kitchen. I got a little worried when there was the sound of something shattering and a shout of "I ate a whole spoonful of that stuff!" but quickly decided I'd rather not know what was going on.

Robin made herself comfortable on a big chair made out of clouds and turned to Conis. "Even though we've just gotten here, Miss… Will you tell us more about those Dials you mentioned before?" she asked curiously.

"Of course."

I made myself comfortable on the floor, excited to learn about dials. I already knew a lot about them from watching the show but I didn't mind hearing this again, they were really interesting!

"Let's see… How should I explain?" Conis walked over to a table and picked up a grey shell, handing it to Luffy. "Try saying something into it."

Luffy thought for a moment before bringing the dial up to his mouth. "Ussop's a dork!"

Said sniper smacked Luffy in the back of the head. "Why, why, why did you say that?"

Conis giggled at the boys antics. "Now try pressing the apex of the shell."

Luffy did and it spoke back to them. "Wow! The shell's making fun of Ussop!"

"And in your voice too!"

Zoro raised an eyebrow in interest. "Hey, that's really something. It recorded the sound."

"Yes, this is a Tone Dial."

"It looks like the one you showed us earlier, Asa!" Chopper said, leaning in closer.

I nodded. "Yep, but that was an Impact Dial, remember?"

Conis looked over at me in surprise. "You have an Impact Dial? Those are quite rare."

"Yeah! We found it on an old ship along with the remains of a waver." I explained.

Conis went on to tell us how the waver worked by using a Breath Dial and before we knew it we were sitting at the table eating a large shrimp and some other delectable food. Sanji walked out onto the balcony to have a smoke. He looked out to the sea where Nami had been not to long ago and frowned. She wasn't there. "Oi. Where did Nami-san go?"

"She's there in the sea." Luffy said around a mouthful of shrimp.

"No, she's not."

Ussop turned to Sanji. "Then she probably went out exploring." I noticed the change in Conis's expression at this but I didn't say anything. I already knew. "She can handle herself." Ussop finished.

Conis put her fork down and looked at her father. "Father, will she be okay?"

"Yes, Conis-san… I also feel a bit unsettled."

Luffy bit into his food again. "What? What's wrong?" he mumbled.

"Here in Skypiea, there is a place where you must never, ever set foot no matter the circumstances. That place is adjacent to this island and could easily be reached with the Waver." Conis said.

"Never set foot… What's that mean?" Ussop asked swallowing his food.

"It is sacred ground."

"Sacred ground?"

I sat quietly, already knowing what the situation was. That damn so-called 'God'…

"We call that land, The Land Where God Resides, Upper Yard."

This instantly caught Luffy's attention. "God lives there!? In the place you must never, ever set foot!?"

"Yes."

Chopper looked up at Conis in wonder. "By 'God', you mean _the _God? God lives on Sky Island?"

Conis frowned softly. "Yes. Because Skypiea is God's land, it is ruled by the almighty God Enel. God Enel knows everything that goes on in this world. He watches over us, always."

I sighed and took a drink from my glass. "More like an almighty pain in the butt." I mumbled. I really hated Enel, the guy was so full of himself.

Ussop freaked out. "Don't say things like that, Asa! If he's always watching us…"

"Do you not believe in God Asa?" Chopper asked. I gave him a light shrug. To be honest I wasn't really a religious person. I often believe science over faith in a God but I do consider the possibility in a higher force.

"It's not that I don't believe in _a _God, I just don't believe _he's _God." I jabbed my thumb towards Luffy. "He has a better chance at being God then Enel does." I said casually.

Zoro woke up from his sleep long enough to mumble "There's a scary thought." Before drifting off again. I laughed.

Everyone, Ussop, Conis and her father looked at me in horror. Conis lifted her hands up to me warily and shakily. "Y-You shouldn't say things like that, if you do you'll suffer God's Judgment."

For the sake of Conis's worrying I held in my scoff.

Luffy however, still seemed to be hung up on one sentence. "Is that right?" The rubber boy asked, practically sparkling with bottled up excitement. "A place we must never, ever set foot, huh?"

Ussop notice this, to his horror, and grabbed Luffy by the front of his shirt, shaking him back and forth. "Oi, Luffy! What the hell are you thinking right now!? Listen to what she's saying! 'Must never set foot on' means you ABSOLUTELY must not go there, Luffy!"

But the captain was already long gone.

Robin, forseeing the fact that we'd probably end up going to Upper Yard, turned to Conis. "So, what are the consequences of entering this forbidden Upper Yard?"

"W-Well, You won't return alive, we believe."

Sanji's cigarette fell out of his mouth in shock.

Conis's father noticed this. "Y-You're worried about Nami-san, aren't you? It's best if she does not get too close to Upper Yard."

Sanji spun around and leaned over the balcony, yelling Nami's name as if there was any chance she'd hear him.

"Let's go there! We'll go find Nami!" Luffy announced excitedly. I stood up and stretched as Ussop yelled at Luffy about him just wanting to go to the forbidden island.

I patted Ussop on the shoulder in fake sympathy. "He is the captain, his word is law, right?"

"You want to go too!?" Ussop screeched at me.

I chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of my neck. "M-Maybe…"

* * *

"Alright! Set sail! To the place we should never, ever set foot!" Luffy gave the order from his special seat on Merry's head. We had all decided that it was probably a good idea to go and find Nami just in case something happened to her. Conis's father stood on the beach with one finger in the air, testing the wind.

"Ah, I'm sorry! There's a headwind right now! With this wind, it would take a considerable amount of time to reach Upper Yard! I'm sorry!"

"What!?"

"Considerable!?"

"It wouldn't take as long it your ship were one powered by Dial energy. I'm sorry." Conis's father said. I sighed, he's really trying to convince us not to go.

"And just how long is 'considerable'?" Sanji asked, sounding annoyed.

"I don't know… Until the wind comes around…"

Luffy ran into the cabin and came back out with the broken Waver. I face-palmed already knowing what he was planning. I discretely slipped my shoes off. The Rubber boy jumped off the ship and ran down the beach a ways. "We finally found a dangerous place to go! Like hell I'm gonna wait for the wind to change!" He yelled.

My captain threw the waver into the water, despite the warnings from his nakama and promptly jumped in after it. It sunk instantly. Already prepared, I dove over the side to fetch the idiot. It was a strange sensation swimming in the cloud sea. It had the same weightless feeling as normal water but it was less restricting and it was easier to move.

I found Luffy just before he dropped below the sea clouds and I also grabbed hold of the handles for the Waver. Had the thing been in any better shape it would have been too heavy for me to bring up along with Luffy.

I broke the surface and gulped in precious air. Zoro and Sanji helped me lug our captain back onto the ship. Chopper ran over to check on Luffy and I started to ring the water out of my hair. Choppers yell of "He's not breathing!" caused me to jump and snap my gaze to Luffy's still chest. My mind blanked for a moment. _He's… What? _

As quick as lightning, I shoved between Zoro and Sanji's random fighting to get to Luffy. They looked at me in confusion until they saw their still captain. I dropped to my knees beside his head and slammed my lips to his. Sanji gave an enraged shriek, sounding like a girl (which I had no doubt Zoro would make fun of him for later). I forced air into his lungs and turned to pump his chest. I continued to repeat that a few more times before Luffy finally coughed.I sighed in relief but relief turned to confusion when he _didn't _puke up a whole lot of water. He gave me a bright smile and sat up, leaning on his hands like he didn't just about drown. My eyes widened. _Wait a minute… _"Were you-"

I was cut off by the galley door slamming open.

"What do you think you're doing!?" An enraged voice called. The crew jumped into defense positions except for Luffy and I. _That voice sounds like… _

I turned slowly, hopping that this wasn't a dream.

But luck was on my side. It was real.

"Alex!"

**Asa: Woah...**

**Ang3l: Yep.**

**Asa: That was a surprise ending!**

**Ang3l: Well, I wanted ****_something _****interesting to happen in this chapter, I figured now was as good a time as any. **

**Asa: But what about Luffy? What the heck happened there?**

**Ang3l: I guess you'll find out next chapter!**

**I'll update soon-ish!**


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